Stocking Full of Cole
by The Trickiest One
Summary: This is a collection of a bunch of short stories I create so I don't have to constantly make new stories. And ironically, not all of them are Cole-centric. Hope you enjoy! Rated T for some themes in the future. Current Chapter: Five Kidnappings. Five Years. Five Cryogenically-Frozen Chambers. One underground lab belonging to a stalker who has an unhealthy obsession with ninjas.
1. Familiar Names

**He was asking for someone who is nonexistent. Someone who has been lost for a long time. If he was referring to the other Lloyd, the one whose body was three people...there's a problem here. That Lloyd was never there in the first place.**

* * *

 **Oh boy, do I love hurting my fictional son with angst stories that have no context or meaning just to make me feel bad**!

* * *

It felt rude to have someone invade your mind uninvited. It was like a vampire just waltzing inside your home and instantly going to your neck for blood, of course, vampires were fictional, but this was real. He was possessed by a vengeful spirit. He couldn't move, couldn't talk, his lack of senses were killing him.

Who was he?

"Morro,"

Ah, so he was Morro. Morro. Morro. Morro was also a ghost.

Was, a past-tense. Oh, ghosts were dead right? It felt weird to share a body with someone else. But since he was Morro, it felt weird to share a body with himself.

Maybe the other sharer felt it was weird too.

He'd forgotten the other sharer's name.

He controlled the wind now, asked it to dance for him, to fight for him. Since he was indeed Morro, he enjoyed it, watching his other's friends struggle against it. He ignored his other sharer's pleas to stop, stop, stop. But then, his other voice ceased and let him be.

No, where did he go? Morro didn't like it. Morro never liked it. It was quiet in his mind. He was already Morro, who else was there with him?

Where was he?

"Ll-!"

He felt tongue-tied with this new name of his. But earlier, they had a conversation going, the other was nice to talk to. Why was the other being quiet? Why did the other leave him alone?

"Hey! Where are you!?"

It seemed like the other had disappeared in his mind. Morro felt bad. But why? They did not like to be alone.

They've been abandoned a lot. It hurt.

And to think they were only children.

* * *

He coughed water, wait, he. Oh god, he was alive! What happened to the other!? Why were they freaking out?

Was he still Morro? No? Who was he? The uninvited voice had left him again. He felt sad.

He liked that voice.

He couldn't recognize his hands, but he wasn't Morro. He was confused, there were others surrounding him. He knew them, probably. But since he was Morro, he forgot who they were.

He-they were not Morro. They-he, wait, he was Morro!

"Lloyd!"

Lloyd? Lloyd. Who was Lloyd? They only knew Morro.

Lloyd does not exist.

* * *

He had fallen in love with her, the Jade Princess. She was very pretty, he liked her. Was, there goes another past-tense. How long ago has it since he's been Morro?

He, they, she-hold on. He wasn't there yet.

His mind was racing with memories as she wore green. His heart was beating. He trusted her. He-she agh!

The Jade Princess only laughed as he was helpless in their one-sided relationship. She watched as he tripped and stuttered for her like a baby learning to walk and talk. She listened to his tone and matched his smile. He'd forgotten who he was for a second there. Har-

She felt bad for ignoring these thoughts.

What was his own name again?

"Harumi,"

Oh, okay then.

He was now Harumi.

He was going too fast. He was not Harumi. He-she was the Green Ninja, right? He had only just met her.

Her voice was soft like a melody, she smelled like Christmas and Easter. Wait, maybe that was him. Oh, he's forgetting again. Her looks were deceiving.

He was missing again.

She messed him up pretty bad. So confusing.

* * *

He watched her die. The Quiet One, the one who he'd fallen in love with. He whispered her name under his breath. It felt like it was she who was watching him say it.

"Harumi,"

Someone was calling him.

"Lloyd!"

Stop. Stop. Stop. That wasn't his name anymore, he didn't even know who 'Lloyd' was. He had changed a lot over the years.

Wait, why was he alive? She was sure that they'd be crushed by the building during his father's wrath. They felt off, three people gave him confused looks. She was him, running fingers through his blonde hair, she could taste copper.

"Are you okay?" The water ninja asked them. She was the Quiet One, how were they supposed to tell her that he wasn't okay? Um. What a strange predicament.

Okay. Okay. Okay. He felt fine.

Spinning memories of herself as she screamed for their parents. Uh, were they only Harumi this time? But Harumi was a separate person. How did that happen? So, who was this other person then?

Harumi died just a second ago. That trauma finally caught up with her. She finally slipped far enough into his consciousness to not taste reality. They were losing it.

"Lloyd?" A hand touched her shoulder. But she wasn't Lloyd. She tensed and grabbed that hand.

"Don't touch me-! Him-! Her-! Us-!" She yelled. She made a mistake. The Quiet One had to apologize, this new body of hers has been acting strange lately. But she lied. "She's sorry, our thoughts are not himself today."

She didn't have to use the other pronouns but she did. If no one else was with him-them. Then how come she didn't feel alone? In her thoughts, it's quiet but only for a minute.

Wasn't she Morro again?

The other did not answer.

"Hm, I guess he's gone."

They weren't children anymore. So why was he playing hide-and-seek?

Right, Lloyd didn't exist anymore.

* * *

Laying on his bed, his thoughts were interesting, Lloyd would often have conversations with them. His friends were alive, his dad was in jail, his uncle was now back to his aged form. But there was something he was missing. Only a small detail that his voices reminded him of every day.

A hybrid of such, of a ghost, a resurrector, and an elemental.

It was like he had absorbed their lifeforce or something. But it seemed as if he was the only one left alive. Or, maybe he was already dead and he had stolen someone else's body. Or maybe this was a really vivid dream.

Perhaps they were figments of his imagination and he was just going crazy.

No, today, he was Lloyd. Somedays, he was Morro, and others, he was Harumi. Today, he talked with Morro and Harumi, asking them what they wanted to eat for lunch. The other outsiders were worrying about him.

Sometimes, he referred to himself as 'We' or 'They' like he was more than one person (which he was), but it was getting out of hand lately. When he's not Lloyd, Morro, or Harumi, they called themselves 'The Chosen One'. They liked being alone, they liked to talk to each other.

The Host of their body was The Chosen One.

The Chosen One is strong. A combination of all three of them combined. They became scary when intrusive thoughts came to play along with their silly game. Lloyd's fingers twitched at the thought. The voices asked him if he was okay. Yeah. He was still hanging in there.

"Good Afternoon," His uncle opened his door. Lloyd continued his conversations with them, ignoring the older man. His uncle only sighed and sat on his bed and shook him. Lloyd sucked in a breath.

He hadn't had human contact in a week.

"Hi," He said, without looking up. He hushed his voices. Once again, he was alone. He didn't like to be alone.

"Who are you today?" Wu asked him. The only one who didn't give much pity as the others have. The one who let him be them. He liked that. He hummed softly.

"Lloyd."

"Zane made lunch, would you all like some?" No, he did not want lunch. They all wanted their own lunch, this was their body and only they got to choose what they wanted. Lloyd shook his head and sat up.

"We're good. I'm getting a sandwich later." Lloyd answered. Wu formed a thin line on his lips, Lloyd could feel Morro flinch, he did not like to disappoint Wu. His hands were in front of him protectively. "D-Don't be mad!"

Wu only gave a small smile knowing that was his former student. Being careful to put a hand on the boy's shoulder, he just nodded. In return, the boy gave a confused look. Why wasn't he mad?

He's been changing quickly a lot lately.

"Actually, I think we'll join everyone for lunch," Lloyd said softly. Morro and Harumi made noises in agreement. Ha. They never left him. Lloyd missed them.

They were hungry anyway.

* * *

Wait. Wait. Wait. Why was she screaming? He was fine a minute ago.

It hurt. They couldn't breathe. Sharp pangs in her chest proved him wrong. Oh no, The Chosen One.

The Host hasn't been his best. They were going to die. They were going to take over his-her-their body. Ah, it hurt so much.

The red ninja held out his hands to calm them down. Didn't work. They were still screaming. The flickering lights terrified them. The Chosen One was very unstable.

The Host was throwing his temper tantrum again. He was only a child. They were throwing furniture. She could hear the voices of the other ninja.

"Lloyd! You have to snap out of it!" The blue one called to them. They were not Lloyd. Lloyd was screaming too. The Chosen One didn't like that name yet. So they cried.

The voices were screaming again, he-she-they wouldn't stop screaming. They wanted to leave. They were only children for their sakes. All of their thoughts at once were killing them.

"We don't want you to hurt us!" They shouted. His voice sounded younger than one would imagine. They were trapped in a body of a teenager. They didn't know who they were anymore. "We've suffered enough and it hurts!" They took a step back.

The five other ninja gave them a sorrowful look. They hated that. They didn't want the stupid pity from them. They didn't need a stupid pity party.

"Stop looking like that! He gave me the exact same look when I died! I don't want your pity!"

Who said that? Which one of them said that?

"Harumi…?" The black ninja whispered. The Chosen One felt stuck. Wait no. Wrong choice of words.

They felt trapped.

"Stop whispering, I can hear you! He did that too when I was around! Always whispering around me like it means something!"

"Okay, that's Morro." The white one said from behind.

Something did not feel right. Were they blaming him? But why? They had a conversation.

No, that was the Host's doing.

"Stop pointing out the obvious guys, we tease each other all the time." They nervously laughed, hoping to throw the others off. The others shared looks.

So they screamed again and fell to the floor.

"They're gonna leave me again! I can't do this! I don't like to be alone!" They shouted. Lloyd. But he didn't exist anymore. Yes, he did. "Lloyd doesn't like this."

That was their Host's name. It didn't make any sense. There were two Lloyds? The Host was a child.

Right, they never really particularly aged.

"How old are you?" There was an older voice. His eyes tore him to pieces. They didn't want any help. But The Chosen One opened their mouth anyway.

"Eleven," They answered. The wise man nodded.

"And how old is Morro?" The Chosen One tightened their fists. They didn't want to answer. But they did. Someone was making them.

"Fourteen," They were using his voice this time. It felt foreign, they hadn't been Morro in so long.

"Good, what about Harumi?" Their uncle nodded.

They felt themselves shift as they were now Harumi, the Quiet One.

"Sixteen,"

They felt like they were disorienting. It was like they didn't know who's body they'd inhabited. They did, they just kept forgetting his name. Who's who wasn't an option.

"Lloyd?"

That name sounded familiar.

"What?"

The man tsked and stepped closer.

"How old is he?"

He was asking for someone who is nonexistent. Someone who has been lost for a long time. If he was referring to the other Lloyd, the one whose body was three people...there's a problem here. That Lloyd was never there in the first place.

"He's scared. He doesn't know, none of us know. No more questions." The Chosen One got up and continued to push others out of their way. Making their way outdoors. The man cleared his throat.

"Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, how old are you?"

The Chosen One hated that name. Lloyd. Full of power and energy, connected to four other elements, a savior, the pacifist, the leader. Just a boy.

They didn't like this name because Lloyd has been through a lot. If he hadn't had a dosage of that Tomorrow's Tea, then maybe his life would be different. He wanted to be normal. This Lloyd was hiding from his own future, never moving on.

Trapped in his mind of self-hate.

"He says he doesn't want to answer because he's sad. But...I will answer for him….okay?" The Host mumbled. Now it hurts to speak. They were crying again. "He's seventeen….right?" In truth, they weren't sure. They were never sure.

"Yes, Lloyd is seventeen." Their master confirmed. The Chosen One felt their heart beam with warmth knowing that they did something right. Actually, there was a mixture of emotions. There was always that lingering sadness that fell in with it.

"We're not Lloyd but we understand why he's sad. Lloyd says he's sorry for being a burden." The Chosen One resorted to looking down at their fingers, fiddling with them. Five shadows neared them along with the old man. "And um, Lloyd thinks that he doesn't deserve you guys 'cause you're always so nice to him and he's been lonely a lot."

But the five ninja and the old man hugged them. They tensed. Out of all their predictions, this one was not called for. This contact felt like it was too much. They sighed.

"Hm-why?" Morro choked on his own words. His eyes softened at the touch but a shiver ran up his spine. Even when he was alive, he longed for the touch of someone who cared. Someone who could give him what he wanted. "Why don't you hate me? Why do you all-"

"-care about me so much?" Harumi's tears didn't cease to leave her. She didn't want them to let go, it was like she had a family again. One that she could love. One who didn't pretend to care. "After all the trauma and-"

"-things I did wrong, you still cared about me." The Host felt himself calm down now. He's tired. There was so much going on. Too much to think about. "Lloyd's tired. He says thank you."

"Well, before Lloyd goes to sleep, would he like to go out to get ice cream with us then?" The red ninja gave them a warm smile. The Host looked up.

"Lloyd says he wants one but he's not going to be back for a while."

"That's fine, tell him that we'll be waiting with open arms when he arrives."

"Lloyd says that he'll be happy to see you guys when he does."


	2. Dead Flowers

**Slowly getting up, Kai looked down at the ground, the dead flowers spelled out a phrase he had heard Cole say one time: A weed is but an unloved flower (Ella Wheeler Wilcox).**

* * *

 **Trigger Warning: A bit of Jerkiness, Mental Abuse, and a lot of self-hate (I'm sorry Cole, I think you're such a good character and you deserve all the love in the world). Oh no, more angst? Jeez, no one will get a break from the angst I write I guess. I swear to you guys and myself, I did not plan to make everyone such jerks, but my dumb writer brain had to make it so and so, here it is. (This is an AU where Bolobo is not the Master of Nature and Lou thinks he knows what's best for his son) (Thanks for the reviews!)**

* * *

 _"Keep your arms up, Nicholas. Eyes ahead, straighten your back." Lou advised his son. The twelve-year-old stumbled in his steps earning a groan and an eye roll from his father. "Keep watch of your feet, Nicholas. Your lack of understanding your own senses is utterly disappointing."_

 _"Yeah, but my arms hurt, we've been practicing for three hours! And I told you, call me Cole, not Nicholas." The raven-haired boy crossed his arms. "You always do this and I hate it."_

 _In response to his attitude, Lou stood up straight, having to be corrected by son once again. He doesn't understand why his son would rather be called by a nickname than a name that meant 'Victory of the people'. It was a strong and sturdy name, which his son would be if he only listened to his father. Lou had to argue back._

 _"Do it again." Lou stared him down. He needed his son to do this competition, and he will not take failure for an answer. Cole furrowed his eyebrows._

 _"What?" He hissed. There was no 'okay' or 'I'll do it'. He had no right to question his authority._

 _"I said, and I will not repeat myself after this, do it again, Cole." That named sound like a mock to both Lou and his son. He did feel bad just a little for keeping his son like this, but it was for the best. He always knows what's best. This was his son's future. "Start on the fourth position, we'll work from there."_

 _Cole did not move._

 _"No, no! Did you even listen to a word I said, dad!?" Cole backed up. Lou could see the shock in his brown eyes, that did not faze him. "I'm tired! Making me do things I don't want to do is practically abuse! I never wanted to enter the stupid competition anyway!"_

 _"Stupid? You think that this competition is stupid!?" Cole shrunk at his father's voice. His father was terrifying when he got angry. "Nicholas, you might be the only one in our family who might be able to do the Triple-Tiger-Sashay! No other dancer has been able to do this, you are lucky that you are even skilled enough to-"_

 _"I'm going to bed," Cole said softly. Lou took a breath, he'd been ranting at his son again._

 _"Fine, go to bed, but tomorrow," He paused and turned around. "We will do this again, early, all day. I will not have a disappointment of a son."_

 _Lou has never heard Cole cry until now and it broke his heart to hear it. Sure nothing was more important than his son but he needed Cole to win this competition. And he was going to do it. They've had months of practice and Cole was not going to lose. He will not disappoint his father._

* * *

"-and in order to use it, you have to-Cole!" Jay's voice interrupted his thoughts. Cole sat up in his chair. "Did you even hear what I just said?"

"No, sorry. What were we talking about?" Cole nervously rubbed his neck and looked down. Jay groaned, Cole felt guilty for ignoring him. He seemed to be doing that a lot, and not on purpose.

"Y'know, nowadays, you're starting to become a real let-down lately and frankly, it's becoming annoying." Jay chided him. Cole let his face fall. Everyone's been calling him that. And it actually hurt.

"I haven't been sleeping well," Cole said. Jay raised an eyebrow as if he didn't believe him.

"Yeah, and you have a low-attention-span too." This time, Cole didn't know what to say. He shouldn't say anything. It'd only get Jay even more frustrated at him. So Cole didn't say anything, he just let Jay talk. "And you've been completely ignoring what I've been telling you, you gotta stop eating large portions of food before you sleep. Speaking of, what is with you and waiting until twelve in the morning to go to bed?"

"Jay, I-"

Cole dared not to speak again.

"No, I'm here trying to teach you how to use this gadget for our next mission and you sat here, the entire time, dozing off. You're a real disappointment to everyone, Nicholas."

Cole's head hurt. Suddenly, he felt tired. His eyes watered.

"Cole?" Jay touched his shoulder. Cole did not move. At all. "Buddy, are you okay?"

 _"First position! Sixth position! Good, pick it up, Nicholas." His father practically barked orders at him. Cole felt dizzy, Lou was right, they'd practice early in the morning. He barely even got his eight hours of sleep. His stomach growled from hunger. He felt his arms get heavy. "Did I say that you could stop?"_

 _"Dad, please! I'm tired!" Cole pleaded. The living room was hot and steamy, his breath hitched. Cole's water bottle was nowhere to be found. "Can't I just rest, for a little while even? I promise, when it's over, we can try again-"_

 _"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, I've never gotten the chance to do it. But you will, Nicholas." Lou circled him, holding his arms up. "There are no second chances after this, get it right or never get it at all."_

 _"I'm sorry, I should-"_

 _Lou stopped him._

 _"Do you know what would happen if you lost?" Before Cole could answer Lou continued. "You'd be a real disappointment to everyone, Nicholas."_

 _"Yeah, sorry-"_

 _"Don't apologize, it makes you weak. Second position!" Lou started again._

 _Cole obeyed._

"I'm sorry, Jay. I should go to bed." Cole whispered. Grabbing Jay's hand and taking it off his shoulder and standing up. Jay only squeezed it in return.

"H-hey! Don't be that way! You know I didn't really mean it!" Jay protested. Cole slid his hand out of Jay's and walked away, with a straight face on. His fingers twitched. "'Sides, why would you even go to bed in the middle of the day?"

Jay stood in front of him, trying to stop him from moving. Cole looked down at his shorter friend. Jay was blocking his path. Jay said he was sorry. Cole did not believe him.

"Get out my way," Cole gave a look of hurt and instantly Jay felt bad. Not only was he putting his frustration out on Cole, but his best friend had just turned back into a human a month ago, he was getting used to his solid form again. Jay searched for any signs of giving up. "Jay, please."

"Fine, fine," Jay raised up his hands and let him pass. "Just, come and see me when you're rested, okay? I wanna apologize."

"Hm, okay," Cole mumbled under his breath. He could hear Jay's sigh of relief.

When he left, Cole had tear stains.

He felt like a dead flower that had just been cut from the ground.

* * *

No one had seen him in weeks. The only times they would hear from him was in the early morning and late at night, the stomping noises and grumbling usually woke them all up. When one of them went to go check up on him and ask if he was okay, Cole would only laugh and say that he's sick, which was unlikely. Cole never got sick.

When asked about in the streets of Ninjago, those who knew him would say they would see him rock climbing in the late evening. Something was up and it had to be one of their faults. It was unnerving to have lost a brother they all loved. Cole was being hysterical.

"Okay, this had gone out of hand," Kai was the first to speak up after the silence during breakfast. "We haven't seen Cole in at least a full four weeks, who knows what he's doing in there? The only person who's seen him is Wu and even he won't tell us what Cole's up to!"

 _There were always traces of dirt leading to Cole's room and a few stray dead leaves here and there._

"Do you think it was something we did?" Lloyd pointed out after shoving a forkful of eggs in his mouth.

 _These feelings of helplessness were nerve-wracking, appalling, horrible, were drowning, killing, tearing him apart._

"More like something we've said," Jay sighed. "I mean, a couple of months ago, I called him a 'let-down' and that was harsh, even for me."

 _Vines trailed up his door, made to look like they were dancing._

"I feel like we've been putting pressure on him, we were all rather, expressive, with our anger towards him." Zane followed next, staring at the plate next to him. Nya nodded in agreement. By now, the food was getting cold. "With that being said, we all are to blame."

 _Small trees were placed around his bedroom, growing magnolias._

None of the five ninja said anything after that. They couldn't lose Cole. They told him to get lost and Cole obeyed. They were all sick about it. They hadn't seen a smile in so long.

There were stomping sounds again, loud and heavy, like thunder. There stood Cole, in front of the hallway, his eyes were looking past them frantically. Though Zane was near the dishwasher, Cole pushed him aside and searched underneath. Cole stood up, still not facing the eyes that were watching him.

"Where's the watering can?" Cole's voice was raspy like he hadn't talked in a while. After receiving no answer, Cole turned around and repeated the question. His brown eyes were now green like Lloyd's, his and arms were littered in green dots which looked like freckles. Twigs and leaves were tangled in his hair, all in all, he looked like a mess. "I have to water them, tell me where it is."

"The closet," Zane hinted. Cole head slowly moved towards him.

"Thank you, don't move it again. They don't like that." Cole deadpanned and searched the closet. He pulled out a brown watering can with a flower printed in the middle. "They'll like me when I come back. Wouldn't want to disappoint them, now would we?"

Cole filled the can up with water and turned on his feet.

"Wait, Cole-!" Kai shouted but the door had been shut. Cole was gone.

"Eugh," Jay shuddered. Lloyd followed suit. The ninja exchanged glances to one another.

"Okay, that was weird," Nya muttered, picking up everyone's plates. "Did you see his eyes?"

"Yeah, and he was barefoot. Cole never walks barefoot," Lloyd added. Cole usually wore socks inside when they weren't training. "There were vines on his legs."

"And who's the 'they?'" Nya asked before any of them could speak again. At this point, Cole was an enigma that needed to be solved. A missing puzzle piece. A riddle. Cole's mind was as delicate as a flower.

"He fell under our pressure, cracked, I mean," Kai said at last. "I think we broke him."

* * *

One by one, Cole was grabbing the rocks, his hands and feet hurt from the scrapes he was getting, but he had to keep going. One by one, to the top. Cole was fast at this but he had never climbed this cliff before, he was told that he could overlook Ninjago from there. That's what he was doing.

The reason why Cole climbed was for a lot of things. He climbed because he was lonely, he climbed because he was hurting, he climbed because he needed to clear his mind. He climbed because his mind was slowly decaying like a garden of dead flowers. That's what he felt like.

 _Cole's head hurt, he couldn't feel his right arm, his body stung from the impact. He tried. He really did. He missed a step. That was bad._

 _His father does not take failure as an answer._

 _There were people surrounding him, asking him questions, shining bright lights into his eyes. He was in a bed of some sort that was being rolled into a truck. An ambulance. He wasn't hurt that bad. Probably._

 _"Son, what's your name?" A female asked him. Her voice sounded distorted as his head was still spinning._

 _"Co-" He stopped himself. Should he say, Cole or Nicholas? What if they found his father? What would he say? He couldn't decide, only his father could do that. "Nicholas."_

 _"Okay, Nicholas, we're going to take you to the hospital, alright?" The woman said. Cole frowned. He just fell when he flipped, it wasn't that serious. He wasn't hit by a car. Thoughts ran through his mind the more he thought about it. "You hit your head pretty badly, stay with us."_

 _His mouth was dry._

 _No, he must've not hit his head hard enough because he could hear his father's words loud and clear._

 _"You were always such a failure, Cole."_

Cole's breathing was shaky as he reached the top. The air stung as he breathes it in, it was cold up there. Cole swallowed and he sat down and dug his hands into the dirt. He was already dirt. Being the Master of Earth and all.

"And to come to think that I thought they would like me, you were right, dad." Cole bitterly laughed. "I should have listened to you when I younger."

He was a pushover.

Concentrating on the ground below, Cole's gaze focused on the city. An earthquake will do. The city would be in ruins. His heart and mind were in ruins. They'd taste his pain.

But Cole couldn't do that.

He was bad at making up his mind.

"This is why you're such a disappointment, Cole." He told himself. "You have to ask someone to make your choice. Have you ever once decided for yourself?"

The ground rumbled.

Cole was losing it.

"You eat too much, you close yourself off from your friends, you ignore them. You don't even seek help for your own problems. You're withered Cole, invaluable, unlikable, an unfinished work of art."

Clenching his fists tightly, Cole's heart beat fast.

"They don't like you. They hate you."

Rocks fell from the cliff.

Soon, the cliff will fall, he'll fall, and he'll take the entire city with him.

"They'll be shouting your name from the streets: Cole, the Master of Dead Flowers, once Nicholas, the Master of Past Childhood Failure is no longer with us! Fine by me."

The sun was rising.

* * *

Kai stood in front of Cole's bedroom door, hesitant to knock. He hadn't heard from him since the incident a couple of days ago, it was silent when he passed. The light was off. Slowly, Kai knocked.

"Cole? It's me, Kai, are you alright?" Kai knocked again. There was no answer. "Look, buddy, I'm not going to open your can of worms but you need to stop sulking around like it's nothing because clearly, it's something. Everyone's worried about you. I'm so-"

The vines on Cole's door grew, Kai heard it open and immediately took a step back. Since when did Cole control nature? Plants at that. The vines had thorns. Upon being careful to open the door, the ground shook violently, making Kai lose his grip and fall over.

"Woah, holy-" When he looked up, the Fire Master blinked. He'd expected the room to be colorful with flowers head to toe. Instead, he was greeted with a room full of dead plants. Shriveled leaves and flowers were scattered and dirt was everywhere, trees that were probably once beautiful had broken branches lying about. Thorns were covering Cole's bed protectively.

The ground shook again, lights started to fall, books fell off of shelves. The thorns tightened.

"Kai!" Someone shouted. That shout was Jay. They were calling him. But Kai ignored them.

Slowly getting up, Kai looked down at the ground, the dead flowers spelled out a phrase he had heard Cole say one time: A weed is but an unloved flower.

Kai could see cracks in the grounds.

Cole was going to replant himself back into the earth.


	3. The Place For Troubled Boys

**"Is this where you are sure to sit?" The third guard asked them. Lightning waved his arm.**

 **"Shut up, you dumb freeloaders. Do your thing and be on your way." He mumbled. The guards all chuckled in sync. Knockout rested his head on his hands and Firestarter stuck up two fingers as a rude gesture. They each chained the trio to the table around their ankles and left.**

* * *

 **Based on a dream I had once. It's kinda like a Gov't Cautionary Tale or something. WARNING: Multiple mentions of murder, bombs, and implied pyromania because nobody except Zane is sane in this story.**

* * *

The Place for Troubled Boys. Zane has only ever heard of it from the rumors kids spread at school. It was a dark place, rumored to be crawling with insects and rodents in every corner, creepy janitors and guards, it smelled of the dead from the number of boys that have committed suicide in their rooms. But, right now, standing in the middle of it all, it was nothing like what the kids had described it. The good atmosphere seemed rather suspicious at most.

It was unclear to him why he was sent to The Place, he wasn't troubled at all, he was calmer and reserved than the other boys there. Currently, he was in a specially-designed room made just for him, white, gray, and gold were everywhere. He was already welcomed with open arms. Zane wasn't a criminal. He would never commit a crime if his life depended on it.

The door clicked open from the card one of the guards or employees use to check up on the 'inmates'. It was more like a prison shaped like a house, Zane got to wear regular clothes and such, but this was all different. Nothing like how it's portrayed on television. Zane had been reading a magazine and immediately put it down once a woman with blue-dyed braided hair stepped inside. Her smile was discomforting.

"Zane Julien," She said. "I'm here to take you to lunch."

"Lunch?" Zane repeated unsure. If it was anything like prison food, he didn't want any. The woman seemed to notice his hesitation and her smile widen as she wrote down something on her cat-themed clipboard.

"Oh yes, The Place has a variety of selections of lunch foods here. And if you want, we also take special requests." She assured him. "Come along now, you'll miss our choosing of the movie for tonight."

Zane slowly nodded and stood up. He didn't want to bother learning her name. As he found out before they left, he had other roommates on the same floor he was on, he caught a couple here and there. When he and his chaperone stopped at the elevator to go down, an open door caught his attention.

Zane could see a boy with curly brown hair surrounded by two guards. He wasn't loud but he sure was putting up a fight, the first guard had him held down while the other tried to put him into restraints which looked like mittens. The boy was then put into cuffs and ushered outside where he struggled to take them off.

"You know we had to do this, Lightning." The first guard tried to smile at him. "It's for your own good and everyone else's, you don't want anything to destroy The Place now would you?"

The boy did not answer.

"Besides, what would your friends Firestarter and Knockout say?" The second guard placed his hands on his shoulders and lead him forward. Lightning, who Zane assumed to be the boy's nickname of some sort, cocked his head to the side and gave a small grin.

"They'd want me to build a bomb to destroy The Place. Firestarter says he'll burn it down too, with you guys in it." Lightning responded calmly. The two men did not seem to be fazed by it but continued forward. Only once Zane and Lightning had locked eyes, his eyes were electric, darting in all his directions, possibly looking for an escape. Zane wanted to leave The Place too.

* * *

The elevator down wasn't that bad, though the music was classical, it made the setting even worse. The two guards from earlier restrained Lightning from pressing all the buttons and getting them stuck. Either he was messing around, he was crazy as crazy gets, or this kid was just trigger-happy and had some serious problems, Zane felt out of place with the whole situation. There was something in the music that played that made him feel uncomfortable, the adults were fine with it.

"Now Zane," The blue-haired woman looked to him when they left the elevator. "Lunch may seem scary at first, but I promise you, there is nothing to worry about. Here at The Place, we want you to feel as comfortable as possible. This is like your second home after all."

She spoke to him as if he was a child, and to him, that was offensive. Zane was more used to be spoken to as an adult or a teenager as he was accustomed to. They treated them like children.

"Don't be afraid to make new friends. I'm sure you'll love it here!" She finally said at last and left him at the cafeteria alone.

More like enemies, the cafeteria was filled with laughter from boys around ages thirteen to nineteen, there were boys already in lines getting lunch or going to hang out a snack bar. From the corner of his eye, he moved aside and away from a teen around his age wearing a brown headband and had his hair tied into a ponytail, he already looked like a troublemaker. Zane stared awkwardly at him as he made his way towards Lightning who stood next to a brunette dressed in red. They already looked like friends. The usual pair for his liking.

They all wore cuffs.

Zane shuffled to a line closest to the back, where there were fewer people than the ones up front, he found out that they did not need his name. He was already known there as the 'Iceman', Zane had a reputation already. The trio in cuffs were right behind with him, three guards stood around them.

"Can you guys leave already?" The brunette in red groaned. "We're capable of doing things ourselves."

"The Place does not allow this, Firestarter. When you get your lunch, we must keep you at your table until it is time to leave." The second guard deadpanned. "You know that it is against our rules to let you three wander free."

The boy in red, Firestarter, rolled his eyes. The teen who leaned next to Lightning grumbled.

"Screw you guys, all you do is basically chain us to our table and then leave like we're gonna escape or something. We're not animals, you know?" That must have been Knockout. Zane heard those names when Lightning was in his room a couple of minutes ago.

After getting no response, Knockout kicked the first guard in the leg, he did not falter. However, this only made him furious and was about to start again when Lightning put a hand to his shoulder.

"They're too far gone to understand, it's never going work anyway, Knockout." He said. Knockout sighed and continued to lean on Lightning. "We can try something later."

Zane shivered. Their presence made him uncomfortable. The way they murmured behind him, moved, talked. They were like a gang you'd spot in prison, the ones who'd be on the Death Row. Everyone seemed afraid of them.

Zane's lunch consisted of a Cuban sandwich, a cookie, an apple, and a bottle of water. The Place has more selections such as pasta and restaurant foods, but Zane decided against it. He did not trust The Place. While he was in line, several boys either complimented him or gave him advice.

"You're gonna love The Place."

"Stay positive, everything will be just fine."

"Where's your smile? Turn that frown upside down!"

"They'll take good care of you in The Place."

"Everything will be okay as long as you're happy at The Place."

The trio behind him said nothing.

Zane sat down at a table far off from the others, he was new and wasn't quite sure what would happen if he didn't lay low. Some of them were intimidating. His table was circular with writing on them. The dates started from the beginning of 2015 to the end of 2016.

"So, this is the Iceman?" A familiar voice startled him. Zane was quick to catch his apple before it fell. The voice laughed. "Relax dude, none of us are going to kill you."

There was an us.

Zane turned around and faced Firestarter, a scar across his right eye. Zane bit his tongue from screaming which only made Firestarter laugh louder, Knockout joined him. Lightning smirked. Each of them took a seat next to him.

"Is this where you are sure to sit?" The third guard asked them. Lightning waved his arm.

"Shut up, you dumb freeloaders. Do your thing and be on your way." He mumbled. The guards all chuckled in sync. Knockout rested his head on his hands and Firestarter stuck up two fingers as a rude gesture. They each chained the trio to the table around their ankles and left.

"With those freaks out of the way, Lightning suggested that we'd introduce ourselves. I'm Kai or Firestarter. That's Jay, Lightning if you will, and tough-guy over there is Cole, Knockout. So, how did you get here, Iceman?" Firestarter nudged him. Zane sat there, shocked, someone actually wanted to know, more or less, someone wanted to talk to him. He didn't even trust them.

"I was framed for locking my father, Dr. Julien, in a meat freezer where he froze to death." Zane wrapped his arms around his chest, he didn't want to think about that right now. He shuddered.

"Julien, huh? So you're a special little snowflake aren't you?" Firestarter said, disregarding the situation. Lightning looked at him with interest.

"I'm sorry?" Offended, Zane slid over.

"It's rare for a rich kid to be in The Place, guess you're an exception too." Zane raised an eyebrow. "A friend of ours used to sit here, Breeze, everyone called him because he was fast as the wind, he was framed for murder too. He eventually escaped but was found dead a few miles off from here in a cave. The irony of another murder. Since then, they've maxed the security."

Zane's mouth made an "Oh". Knockout continued for him.

"Dumb cops figured out that he didn't kill his cousin and his uncle the next day, jerks."

"Cousin?"

"Oh yeah, Breeze had a cousin nicknamed Goldilocks since the guy had blonde hair, his real name was Lloyd Garmadon and he was murdered along with his dad while Breeze was asleep one night." Knockout picked at his food, pasta, soda, and a slice of chocolate cake. An unhealthy choice of a lunch but Zane wasn't there to judge. "Apparently, they were good at hiding their fingerprints, and since Breeze was the only one there at the time, they've subjected him here. Seriously, the dude was asleep!"

Zane didn't know if they were trying to make friends with him or threaten him, it was a bit weird that a couple of random strangers just walked up to him and immediately started to tell him about someone he had no idea of. Then he remembered, it was an unsolved murder case that happened a couple of years ago, Breeze. Oh. Morro Garmadon was convicted of the manslaughter of a thirteen-year-old and a fifty-one-year-old three years ago. It was said that he strangled his uncle with a rope and had him hung while he stabbed his cousin five times in his chest. Zane needed to ask.

"Why are you all in cuffs?" His voice was low and sounded out fear. The boys exchanged glances, Firestarter stuffed his a couple of hot chips inside of his mouth. Zane didn't like the awkward silence.

"Because we've done things that these people are afraid of us doing again, they're hoping to 'correct' us or something. It doesn't matter." Lightning spoke up.

There was that silence again.

"The reason why all these kids here seem like happy minding-their-own-business type of zombies is from that music they play. They put us in these prison chains because we're special and they're trying to figure out why we aren't submissive to their mind control. I'd say it's because The Place is evil and they're stupid." Lightning looked towards the opposite of them, staring at the wall, hoping it'd break on contact. Firestarter hummed.

"Lightning's a genius, too bad he has the tendency to build things that are bound to explode. The Place thinks that they can change him somehow, make him into their little demolition lab rat." He stated. Zane was sure that he heard earlier that Lightning would make a bomb go off.

"I've built explosives and rockets, I'd let them go wild and destroy everything in their path, I got arrested a few times off of the note that I was just being a 'bad boy' and going through a 'rebellious phase', it ended with the usual slap on the wrist and scolding. Eventually one day I decided to build bombs and that I'd plant them at the school I was going to. Some weirdo saw me setting up one of them in the boy's locker room while he decided to take a smoke and got the school to call the police and bomb squad due to 'suspicious activity'. Lightning took a sip of his drink. "Everything starts at school, they teach you things and make you compete with others for attention, love, social statuses, titles, fame, fortune. Schools are like the world, harsh, cold, and rules with an iron fist. It isn't right. They would have opened their eyes to it if I had blown it up. They're blind. They won't listen to their example of hope."

Zane decided that Lightning was a terrorist who deserved to be put in an actual prison. Then he decided that he was now afraid of Lightning. Zane just met them. Still, he wondered why they were telling him all this.

"Since we're sharing now, I'll go." Knockout started. "Survival of the fittest and the theory of evolution: Only the strongest and smartest can survive, right? If you evolve, you can adapt to your surroundings and live to your peak performance, the strong must protect the weak." He ate a piece of his cake. "I took boxing, karate, and dance classes back when I was in middle school up until the middle of Freshman year. I was known as Knockout because I fought so many dudes who were way taller and stronger than me, they usually ended up in comas or they passed out, and, you know, I broke a couple of bones. Kids ran to me, helpless, because someone ruined their lives of living as they should be, and I wanted to save them. I would win, always. And just because I was protecting those who couldn't, I got expelled from six schools for being too 'aggressive' and that I 'lacked empathy'."

Okay, now Zane had a system going. Lighting was a clearly a terrorist and Knockout was his bodyguard. Did they do things they thought was right? Yes. Were they insane? Yes. Did he trust them? No, not with his life.

Firestarter was silent. He didn't seem like he wanted to answer anyway, though he seemed enthusiastic earlier, now, he was thinking. Eating fries. Zane honestly did not want to hear anymore, both Lighting and Knockout's stories were terrifying as it was but just the name Firestarter made him think of-

"Why did they put you here?" He interrupted his own thoughts. He'd get to the bottom of this. Zane needed to know why they sat here. His questions were important.

"Jeez, Iceman, you sure do ask a lot of questions," He sighed with a smile. "But I'll give it to you straight. Arson, arson, assault of a government official, more arson, potential manslaughter-"

"Potential!?" Zane couldn't believe his eyes. Firestarter was quick to put his hands up in defense.

"Hey, I just like setting things on fire. It's been that way since my parents and my sister-ah." Firestarter hesitated. He hesitated. Zane knew. "Nevermind. I made my lawyer so frustrated when I just said I was guilty and accepted it. I wasn't going to deny it, why would I? They've got the evidence right there. I could care less. So they sent me to The Place."

That caught Zane off guard. Firestarter mentioned his parents and his sister, there was something missing, but Zane wasn't going to pry.

"Fire is beautiful when it burns, it destroys the past and everything that touched it, that's why I like it. The past leaves tainted souls there, trapped, making people commit mistakes over and over again and they suffer for all eternity. When I was younger, I heard my parents arguing over getting a divorce while my little sister, Nya, was asleep one night, I...I thought I was doing the right thing," Firestarter paused to let Zane catch up. They were so vulnerable. Why were they telling him this? How did he deserve to hear this? "So I burned our house down, the past was in the past, they needed to move on, whatever they had done had tainted their souls enough and they weren't letting go. I watched it burn with my sister in it, she was as innocent as anyone would like to be, the smoke got rid of my parents' impurities but let her die. That's when it started, I burned things to release their mistakes, my mistakes, from the past, I wanted to help them move on, but that wasn't the case, all they saw was terror and a monster."

"Why are you all telling me this?" Zane asked softly. He arrived at The Place late at night yesterday, he'd gotten breakfast the next morning and did not eat it. Now he was eating lunch with teenagers him who thought they could change the world by doing bad things to make it happen.

"We're telling you because you're not like them, you're not under this false illusion that everything will be okay. And it won't ever be." Lightning answered, his head buried into his arms. "You're different. I know this because I've seen what The Place has done to your dad, they killed him. They know everything, Zane. They've been watching us. You're just a pawn in this game of chess now, there's an escape, but only a few will survive to get to it."

"We have problems, yeah, so what? We understand what we did was wrong, sure, and we definitely don't deserve sympathy. But someone who hurts and manipulates others for their own advantage? There's no chance that will slide by anyone." Knockout looked at him with hopeful eyes. Zane felt himself getting cold. The Place did it. Mind control. It all made sense.

"Zane, I know you don't know us and all, but, you have to understand. These people, these things, won't stop until they get what they want, and these boys, they don't stand a chance against them, but we do. You can't change how someone acts, that's their decision for them to make on their own, but you can help them learn how to." Firestarter said.

It was a lot to take in and Zane wasn't sure if he was ready or not, but the faces of the trio proved him wrong. He knew right from wrong, and these boys were far beyond wrong, but this was different. It was clear to him that he knew nothing about The Place and where their secrets may lie, but if it wasn't for revenge, it was for justice. Zane needed to make the right choice. Trusting criminals was never on his bucket list but he was willing to make that sacrifice.

"Do you all know how to break free from your cuffs?" Zane asked them. Their eyes lit up in surprise and shock. Zane guessed none of them had ever thought about him believe them.

And he did.

"Obviously, why?" Lightning was the first to regain his choice of words. The others looked on.

"Meet me back here tonight, got it?" Zane grinned. He had a plan. A good one too. The three teens shook their heads in sync. "Good, then it's a Prison Break."

* * *

 **I realized something while I was writing, Lightning (Jay) is very similar to J.D. from the musical Heathers, and I did not mean that whoops :) (That's actually pretty terrifying)**


	4. The Campfire

**"What's this? A summoning circle?" Jay turned his head towards the fire, circling it. The flames were purple.**

 **"Jay, that's just a campfire." Kai read off one of the comments on the screen. Jay blew raspberries.**

* * *

 **Finally, some good humor and food. Based off a tiny AU where Jay is a Cryptid Hunter and he drags everyone along with him to search for this (Also because Jay is the biggest nerd there ever was and that's what I love about him**

* * *

"I still can't believe you made me drive you to the woods just to hunt some creature that probably doesn't even exist! Like, what am I even supposed to do? Sit there and act pretty? Because I can definitely do that." Kai's fingers tapped the edges of his steering wheel with a sigh. Jay opened the door handle to his car and stepped out.

"Well, one, I don't have a driver's licenses yet, and two, you hold the camera while I do the cool stuff." He said while he turned on his flashlight. "I do, however, have a hunting license, so I'm already certified for this job."

"Jay, you're a high school junior." Kai snorted. Jay ignored his comment and searched the trunk for his camera and night-vision goggles. "And besides, what are you even looking for? Your boyfriend, the Mothman?"

"Hush, Mothman is beautiful and totally real. It's Friday the 13th and the vampires and werewolves will definitely be out for my blood." Jay shoved the camera into his hands. Kai rolled his eyes and turned it on and set it up on his shoulder, making sure the camera's microphone was connected.

"Your blood specifically?" Kai raised an eyebrow in doubt. Jay laughed nervously.

"I kind of, sort of, insulted them in my last video during a gameplay. I'm pretty sure a lot of them watch my content." He answered. Jay had a channel on a streaming website, which usually consisted of gaming and vlogs, and to everyone's surprise, he was actually very popular (and very loud). "And we're going to search for an Oni. A couple of blogs I've read said that there were a few sightings here a couple of years ago, the most popular one was an Oni sighting with four arms. Can you believe that? Four arms!"

"You are now officially the ultimate fanboy for these monsters. Aren't they shapeshifters or something? How are you going to find one if that's true?" Before Kai could bombard him with more questions, Jay faced the camera towards him and set up his computer.

 _The camera buzzed._

 _"Okay, okay, I know what you all are thinking 'But Jay, you're a gaming channel, why are you out in the woods at night? Where's Cole and Zane?" Jay fixed his night-vision goggles on his head. His computer made a sound as more people started to watch. "Cole and Zane are practicing with the marching band at the moment, so Kai is here," Switching his camera towards Kai, he waved. "Cue the intro! Hello, Ninjago! I'm Punsgeons and Dragons and you're watching Lightning Vlogs! Tonight, I am here in the woods to investigate some cryptid activity!"_

 _Motioning the cameraman to move forward, Jay strapped a vest to himself which was connected to his computer and a radar. The crunch of the leaves and sticks made him be careful to not take any risks in case someone had left evidence of an Oni. Which were very unlikely to be seen in the dark._

 _"Jay, I feel like we should track our steps, what if we get lost and someone steals my car?" Kai asked as they walked farther away from their campsite. Knowing that it was dark, anything could happen to any one of them. Jay shrugged._

 _"I don't have any bread crumbs, but if we did die in the woods together, at least I'll know that I died with an accomplishment."_

 _"And what's that?"_

 _"Knowing that I never called my teacher 'mom' in front of the entire class for the sixteen years that I have lived," Jay smirked. Kai faked a heartbreak._

 _"That was one time, Jay Walker!"_

 _The two walked through the trees and bushes like they were actually hunting, and so far, they only found families camping together and had gotten chased for ruining their outing. Every campsite they had come across, Jay realized that they should just avoid people altogether if they wanted to be alone. Kai suggested that they should just give up but Jay thought otherwise. There was no time to give up now._

* * *

 _The viewers on the stream were two halves of a whole skeptic, one side was calling the hunt 'fake' while the other side called them 'nonbelievers' and supported Jay the entire time. The duo eventually found footprints that were too large for a normal human, after tracing the pattern of the print, it was confirmed that it wasn't an animal, it was shaped like a bear's would. Freaky. That got some of the viewers listening._

 _Then there was a tree._

 _"Look at these claw markings, Kai!" Jay exclaimed. Upon looking further inspection, there were carvings and initials labeled: L.M.G. "Huh, weird."_

 _"Either that means Light Machine Gun, Local Marketing Group, Liquid Methane Gas, or Let Me Guess," Kai said jokingly. He was going to turn around when Jay put a hand on his shoulder._

 _"Somehow, these initials remind me of Lloyd." Jay felt his fingers on the markings, they were rough and possibly still fresh, he was probably going to get splinters._

 _"Lloyd? As in Lloyd Garmadon?" Kai repeated. "You mean the new kid that moved from Jamankai a few weeks ago?"_

 _"Yeah, him. He's been acting kind of strange when he's around us, like a psychic or something."_

 _"Or, you know, it's because he's the new kid at a new school and he's trying to get used to the environment. Jamankai is pretty small and Ninjago City is ginormous."_

 _"He doesn't even eat lunch, he sits alone and just stares at it, like it's human remains or something."_

 _"Eating disorder?" Kai recommended. There was a snap of the twigs and the two froze, supposedly there was no one else following them, there was a green mist. "Woah, Jay, your goggles."_

 _Sure enough, Jay's goggles were cracked, luckily, the pieces hadn't fallen. Shocked, Jay immediately took them off. That was weird. They were expensive and were specially made for him. A voice made them shiver._

 _"Yortsed,_ _dnif lliw eno on neddih, gnineppah eb lliw, erifpmac." That came from behind the trees. Trees couldn't talk._

 _It was there that Jay let out a scream and the intruder stopped. Luckily, he caught his computer before it fell. The comments were going wild that he had to shut them off before the lag started. Taking a breath, he looked to Kai who looked just as terrified as he was._

 _The green that he had seen earlier had disappeared. The deep woods were a strange place. But not this strange. They needed to get out. Having two high schoolers be in the woods at night was never a good sign. Jay learned that the hard way from the horror movies he's watched._

 _They turned off their cameras._

"What was that? Who was that?" Kai asked him. Jay looked down, completely unsure. That did not sound human and neither was the green mist he'd seen. Something was out there.

"Out of all the things I was prepared for, I have no idea," Jay said. Then an idea popped into his head. "But, what if we found out?"

"I think you hit your head on a couple of branches too hard, buddy." Kai touched his shoulder in a look of worry. Jay waved his hands.

"But hear me out, whatever said that we got it all on tape right? What if we translated it?" Jay was turning his computer back on and opened up a program. Kai stared, out of either distress or concern for Jay's and his safety. But he shrugged and sat down on the ground. "Let's see," Jay replayed the same scene over and over again. "It's backward speech!"

"You know this how?"

"I know a lot of things when I have free time." Jay then set the clip to be reversed. First, he turned off the sound and let the video play backward. "Now, for the sound."

"Destroy, hidden no one will find, will be happening, campfire."

"Clearly, this thing doesn't know proper grammar. Maybe it's Mothman trying to break up with you." Kai laughed. Jay smacked him in his arm while he laughed harder. "Relax, I'm just joking."

"Whatever, but this means something. Someone one or something wants to destroy-" Jay stopped. He could smell smoke. There were no other campsites around. Kai's head perked up and he helped him stand up.

 _Jay turned the camera back on._

 _"Sorry we left earlier guys," Jay apologized to his fans that were waiting for him to return. He turned the comments on and a flood of angry sentences and emojis filled his screen. "I know, I know, you can be mad at me all you want, but, we were figuring out something. Remember that voice? Yeah, turns out, they broke my goggles and they speak backward. They don't want to be seen."_

 _Jay played the audio again. That voice sounded vaguely familiar._

 _Something buzzed past his head, Jay swiftly turned to avoid getting hit. Kai wasn't throwing them. It was like they were flying with some unmanned force. That voice was there again._

 _"Hreh_ _emoclew ton era uoy, yawa og!"_

 _Jay gave Kai a determined nod and the two ran towards the smoke. The closer they got, the more the smoke got stronger, it was thick like fog. It smelled like a fire. Rocks and sticks were thrown in their direction. Jay actually had no idea what they were doing but something was there. And they've only been outside for two hours._

 _They stopped in the middle of the woods, there was a clearing surrounded by dead leaves and logs. In the middle, there was a fire. The whole atmosphere reeked of Oni._

 _"What's this? A summoning circle?" Jay turned his head towards the fire, circling it. The flames were purple._

 _"Jay, that's just a campfire." Kai read off one of the comments on the screen. Jay blew raspberries._

 _"That's what they want you to think, 21st Century Nindroid!" Jay came to a recognition. "Oh, hey, Zane! Guys, go subscribe to him, he has good content!"_

 _"It's purple. What fire have you seen that's purple?" Kai told the viewers while he looked around. There was a tent, a few medical supplies, books, cans of foods, bags. A teapot. There was a teapot. "Who drinks tea in the middle of the woods?"_

 _"Dnalsi Krad Eht?" Jay read a cover of a book. "I've heard that before somewhere."_

 _"Yhw ereh llits?" Their intruder was near. Hiding in the bushes, Jay and Kai gave each other looks and then back to the intruder. They were not what either of them expected. "Tfel yeht."_

 _"It's just some kid speaking backward!" Jay hissed, disappointed. The kid turned around and they ducked. When it was safe to come back up, the surrounding area lit up. There was that same green hue everywhere. Nope, definitely not just 'some kid'._

 _The objects around them floated above the ground, Jay could see the teapot and a cup floating towards the figure, the pot heated up on its own. The pot then poured itself inside of the cup and was handed to the kid. Kai was reluctant to gasp but Jay put a hand to his mouth._

 _"Now that's an Oni," He whispered to the other and his viewers. "I told you guys that they were real!"_

 _"Yeah, but you didn't tell me that they can move things with their minds!" Kai exclaimed a bit too loudly. The Oni lifted themselves off of the ground and faced them. Jay covered Kai's mouth once more._

 _"Uoy em wohs! Ereht si ohw?" They shouted. A couple of seconds later, they turned their back and continued to use the floating objects, specifically, to read. Jay counted to three and jumped out of the bush, Kai following soon after._

 _"Aha! I finally caught you, Oni!" Jay pointed a finger at the Oni. Getting closer was a weird thing, it felt like was whiplash. This Oni's hair was blonde and they looked rather, human. Their hair fell to their shoulders and everything dropped with a crash._

 _"Gnorw gniod ma I tahw ton si siht!"_ T _hey turned around. Green eyes. Jay knew them from anywhere._

 _"Lloyd?"_

 _"Yaj?"_

 _Jay made sure his camera was still rolling as he did a 360 on him. Lloyd hunched over and covered his face. His tea that once in his hands was spilled on the ground. Kai shook his head in disbelief. Lloyd Garmadon was telekinetic._

 _"Oh ho ho, I knew something was up with you!" Jay giggled with excitement. Lloyd reached at the ground for something but Jay made him stand up and remove his arms. This only made the other more uncomfortable. "And you've got red eyes!"_

 _"I can explain." Lloyd stood back from the two boys. He had an accent that none of them have heard before. Actually, neither of them had heard him talk at all._

 _"Lloyd, dude, there was no non-paranormal explanation for whatever you just did," Kai commented. "Who are you? What are you? And where are you from?"_

 _"I will answer all your questions," Lloyd hesitated for a minute. Jay looked at him with curiosity. "But, turn the camera off, please."_

 _Jay nodded._

"Hey, sorry guys, personal privacy. Cryptids, you know?" Jay told his viewers. He gestured Kai to turn his camera off and set them down. "Okay...you. Now talk."

"Yes, I am Lloyd Garmadon. I am from Dnalsi Krad Eht, or, The Dark Island as you would want me to translate it as." Lloyd began. Lloyd picked up his teapot and poured himself another cup. He offered them both and they gladly accepted. "We are Oni, you called my father a monster because he is one. I am trying to go back."

"The Dark Island?" Jay ran his fingers through his hair. "Really wish we could help, dude."

"It is alright. You will not need too." Lloyd smiled. The two raised their eyebrows. "I have called the police when you approached my camp."

"I'm sorry, what?" Jay dropped his cup. Lloyd's pointer finger traced the rim of his teapot and smiled. The sounds of leaves made Kai and Jay tense.

"We Oni are very deceiving. Your observation skills are lacking." Lloyd put a finger to his lips. The sounds got louder. "I was banished here by Drolrevo Eht, my father. I possess the gift of what you call 'Telekinesis', it was given to me by my grandfather. Drolrevo Eht grew jealous of my power and feared that I would grow to be more powerful than him, that is was Ynitsed had for planned for me."

"I saw that betrayal a mile away. So you plan on having us arrested so you can create a rift or something and beat up your dad?" Kai said flatly. The Oni laughed. "What about this entire situation is funny to you?"

"You will be taken away, yes, but I have not betrayed you." He answered. "You were just, simply searching for something that does not exist. They may try to get to it, but it will not happen."

The campfire grew in size.

"What is he-" Jay's computer flashed with an error message. The computer had crashed. "No, no, no! I didn't even get to save!"

"There is a reason why we do not appear in your pictures." Lloyd stood up and waved his hands. The remaining objects and tea disappeared. "Ereh ton ma i."

Lloyd was gone in a burst of green mist. Out of the bushes, a policeman brought himself into view.

"Jay Walker, you are under arrest for disturbance of the peace and destruction of campsites."

"Destruction of campsites? What? No!" Jay threw his hands up but had them pulled down when the policeman put him in handcuffs. "Disturbing the peace, yes, but I would never destroy someone else's property! That dumb Oni did it, he used his telekinesis to do cool things! And what was that? That was definitely a betrayal, and a good one too! He lied to us! He corrupted my computer!"

At this point, Jay was rambling.

"I'll call your parents," Kai smiled. Jay frowned but didn't object.

"Have a good night, sir." The policeman gave Kai a nod.

"Oh, I already have."

The campfire died out.

* * *

 **Drolrevo Eth is Lord Garmadon, sorry for the confusion (I know it's The Overlord but bear with me here)**


	5. Dancing King

**"** **Revolutionaries wait, for my head on a silver plate," Morro continued. He thought about himself and how he was foolish to chase a dream that was never bound to happen. He chased it, and it got him killed. And now, people screamed his name in fear and terror. "Just a puppet on a lonely string. Oh, who would ever want to be king?"**

* * *

 **This entire thing was supposed to be angst, but I'm a sucker for these idiots being best friends/cousins (and certified dorks). So have a fic where they're dancing with a lot of references to music and singers that are amazing (and half of them are super old :0)**

* * *

 **I apologize this came out weird, but this has been stuck in my head for weeks and I needed to write it. The song is Viva la Vida (Coldplay). Again, I apologize in advance if you don't like this which I really do hope isn't the case :(**

* * *

Lloyd's Walkman player was an old model. Morro had only seen one a couple of times, but here he was, holding it in his hands. The teen liked music; phonographs, record players, victrolas, Morro's heard it all. But nothing compared to a Walkman.

His cousin had a collection of tapes and albums: Elton John, Billy Joel, Elvis Presley and even some of the newer ones like Imagine Dragons, Fall Out Boy, and Mystery Skulls. Both of them had an affinity for the oldies, their rhythms and rhymes were inspiring. Morro turned over the Walkman and ran his fingers across it, feeling the texture.

He has never once listened to it.

"I gave that to you on Halloween, which happened to be your birthday," Lloyd sat down on the steps next to him. "It's been a couple of weeks, and you haven't listened to it yet. I made you a playlist."

Lloyd used to be a hero. The Green Ninja specifically. But with the resurrection of Lloyd's father, he's changed, wanting to be with his father, he left. The remaining ninja tried to stop him with no avail, Lloyd is strong and The Quiet One recruited him to join them and be together once more. His Yin destroyed his Yang.

That was all Lloyd had ever wanted, to be with his father.

Ninjago City was now in ruins, with curfews and daily sweeps from the Sons of Garmadon. The Garmadons were all feared and the city was quiet on most days. Morro wanted to hear things, the silence reminded him of the ocean where he drowned. He listened to music to cope.

"I know," Morro said, leaning his head on Lloyd's shoulder. "It's just that, it's special, you know? No one has ever made something for me during the years that I've been alive. Wu was an exception."

"Then that's why you should use it," Lloyd gave him a smile. A couple of bikers drove by and waved, the two cousins stood up to leave the broken apartment building. "So, we could go two ways, towards the edge of the city so you can finally listen to the music or go towards the base and do nothing."

Lloyd was right, what was the point of keeping something if you weren't going to use it? It's special, a gift, Morro wouldn't turn down that opportunity. Pressing the play button, the music started. Morro knew exactly what the song was.

 _I used to rule the world_

 _Seas would rise when I gave the word_

"Really? Was this necessary? Very appropriate" He laughed. Lloyd shrugged and held out a hand.

"Do you dance?" The blonde asked him.

 _Now in the morning, I sleep alone_

 _Sweep the streets I used to own_

"Um," Morro hesitated for a minute. "I don't know how to,"

"No worries," Lloyd told him and took his hand. Giving a smile, he spun Morro around. "I'll teach you."

 _I used to roll the dice_

 _Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes_

Morro chuckled, never has he danced before, and he never planned to. Even after he had possessed Lloyd's body and all the memories he had seen, he never bothered to learn. But this time, Lloyd was different, maybe it'd be worth to give a try.

"Listen as the crowd would sing, 'Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!'" Lloyd sang as the song was turned up. Morro raised an eyebrow and let Lloyd lead him down the street.

"I didn't know you could sing!" They were running. To where? Neither of them knew, they just let the music guide them.

"Me neither!" Lloyd responded.

 _One minute I held the key_

 _Next, the walls were closed on me_

"And I discovered that my castles stand, upon pillars of salt, pillars of sand," Morro chorused, already knowing the lyrics. The rush of the wind reminded him of a time before he died and before he was brought back to life. After all of the things he had done, he was forgiven. He still stood. "I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing, Roman Cavalry choirs are singing,"

"Be my mirror, my sword, and shield! My missionaries in a foreign field," They swung around a lampost together. Now it was a duet.

 _For some reason, I can't explain_

 _Once you go there was never, never an honest word_

 _And that was when I ruled the world_

Morro took a breath and held himself up on the lamppost to breathe. Sure, there was still destruction, but that didn't mean that they couldn't have fun. Stopping the music, Lloyd paused. Morro looked around him, he didn't mind someone watching them, but this was off. It felt off. There were stares.

Morro and Lloyd shared looks and walked forward.

"There's no one here," Morro observed. But he still had a feeling that someone was there, watching their every move. Lloyd shook his head and started the music again. "Then why do I feel so paranoid?"

"It was a wicked and wild wind, blew down the doors to let me in," He began. Grabbing Morro's hand again, they started to walk which eventually turned into running again. "Shattered windows and the sound of drums, people couldn't believe what I'd become."

That was true. Ninjago didn't take it well. They were terrified and angry, not only had their famed Green Ninja betrayed them, but he also went against his own alignment. Lloyd knew he was being selfish but he did it anyway. The hero was no more. Morro wondered why Lloyd revived him.

"Revolutionaries wait, for my head on a silver plate," Morro continued. He thought about himself and how he was foolish to chase a dream that was never bound to happen. He chased it, and it got him killed. And now, people screamed his name in fear and terror. "Just a puppet on a lonely string. Oh, who would ever want to be king?"

Letting go of Lloyd's hand, he stood still. Lloyd stopped the music again.

"Hey, are you okay?" Lloyd wondered.

"Lloyd, why did you revive me? I mean, what have I done to make you even consider this?" Moving a few strands of hair from his face, Morro looked into Lloyd's eyes, green-on-green. Green was powerful.

Lloyd only gave him a small grin and turned himself around Morro around, then he leaned back and reached out, a leg behind him. A penché. A ballet move. Lloyd knew this.

The music sounded again.

 _I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing_

 _Roman Calvary choirs are singing_

"Be my mirror, my sword, and shield. My missionaries in a foreign field," They harmonized together again.

 _For some reason, I can't explain_

 _I know Saint Peter won't call my name_

 _Never an honest word_

 _But that was when I ruled the world_

"Before you ask, I learned a bit of dance from Cole when I was around the ninja. That's how I was able to do that." Lloyd flipped over and landed on one foot and started to spin. They were walking on solid concrete and yet he had the ability to dance. But he never answered Morro's question. "Being forgiven after doing a dirty deed, it's hard, and it's confusing. These people, they're angry, frustrated, heartbroken. I don't deserve it and I don't want to be forgiven, neither of us deserves it," Lloyd let Morro twirl him around. He then recognized where they were, the edge of the city. "You went down in flames, and I rebuilt you. No one's going to accept it and they're not going to, humans work that way. I could give you a better explanation on why I did bring you back, but, I'll tell you later."

Facing Lloyd, Morro grinned back, that warm feeling felt great and he wanted it to stay forever. Even if he didn't get a straight answer, he was glad to know that at least someone was there for him. The duo ran out of the city, breathing in the fresh air and running through the dirt and grass. In front of them, a hill with flowers that hadn't been touched by Lord Garmadon lay ahead, nodding at each other, they raced towards it. Leaping into the air, they started singing.

"I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing, Roman Cavalry choirs are singing," The two sung in unison. The blonde was the first to fall and his raven-haired cousin soon after.

"Be my mirror, my sword, and shield!" He shouted into the air of nothingness and lay back on the grass.

"My missionaries in a foreign field!" The other finished.

"For some reason, I can't explain. I know Saint Peter won't call my name. Never an honest word, but that was when I ruled the world." They were out of breath. Looking at each other, they laughed.

The music ended and immediately a harmonica played through the Walkman.

 _It's nine o'clock on a Saturday_

 _And the regular crowd shuffles in_

 _There's an old man sitting next to me_

 _Making love to his tonic and gin_

"You did this on purpose, didn't you?" Morro rolled over so he could look down at Lloyd. His cousin only looked away in response.

"Perhaps," He said. Lloyd's expression turned into a competitive one. "Ready for Round Two, Dancing King?"

"Yeah, totally," Morro pulled him up.

* * *

 **The ending song is Billy Joel's, Piano Man**


	6. Blitzkrieg

**White and blue power were screaming at him, coursing through his veins and he was taking it all, electric sparks were traveling in all directions from his body. It was nice, he felt powerful. He wanted more. More. More. Mo-**

 **Jay was stealing something.**

* * *

 **So, today's story is based on my favorite word: Blitzkrieg, a German word meaning "Lightning War". This is literally a character analysis on Jay and how freaking terrifying and awesome his power is, I mean, like, the dude is practically a god! I'm also a huge sucker for Mind Control/Manipulation TV Tropes (and History and Science)**

* * *

 **BlacknBlue102: My phone actually has a memo app where I keep all my ideas and I write down dialogue and scenes as soon as I wake up or during the day so I can get my brain working, and plus, I write, a lot :)**

* * *

Jay had a mission. He was on a mission. And he forgot about the mission. And he forgot what it was about. Weren't they supposed to be searching for something?

"Well, done," This woman that stood in front of him, her voice was low and soothing. Her eyes were mesmerizing, Jay already had a girlfriend. "You've come so far, my soldier."

The way she complimented him, it just felt...so good...so nice. Jay almost wanted to give in. No, he couldn't. She was so far away and yet she felt closer to him. Jay liked her voice.

"Your power, I know you feel it, strong and vibrant, loud and powerful." She said. Jay could hear her within his mind. He had to shake it off, he had a-uh. Jay forgot what he was doing. "I've been watching you, Blitzkrieg. You are very talented."

"I-" He started to say but she cut him off.

"Hush, listen to the sound my voice." Jay could talk a mile a minute but once this woman wanted him to be silent, he did. Jay just listened to her. Her gaze was breathtaking. She was right behind him. Jay could feel her head on his shoulder. He stood still. "Lightning strikes at any given opportunity. You are only using a fraction of your real power."

"Jay!"

Jay couldn't hear what was going on. Just her. She reminded him of someone, he vaguely remembered. That didn't matter now, she liked him. Jay felt loved. His mind was foggy, he could have sworn sparks of electricity popped off of him.

"Jay! There you are! Where have you been!?" Two hands clasped of his shoulders. This user was strong and smells heavily of the earth. His mind was still hazy. The only thing he could think about was that woman. "We've been-hey, ow!"

Jay shocked them. It did not faze him. He kept staring in the void of emptiness that was in front of him. Then he was thinking. Thinking about what exactly? Just thinking. Thinking like the genius he was.

She called him Blitzkrieg, a Lightning War, a military tactic.

Oh.

* * *

Jay lay on the grass outside the Airjitzu Temple, arms spread out. His mind was racing in different directions, unsure of where to go and where to stop. The Lightning Master could have sworn that it was clear and sunny skies all day, it was humid and overcast in the middle of the afternoon.

Jay wanted it to rain so he can wake up from this fantasy of his.

Rolls of thunder were heard. Um. Okay, there was a logical explanation for that. Jay felt himself spark in anticipation, somewhere a lamppost flickered for a second. Scanning his surroundings, no one was there with him.

Something fell on his face, wet and cold. It was raining. Wait, wait, he was just joking earlier. Why was it raining? Uh. Jay sat up confused. At least it took his mind off of her.

Soaked, Jay stepped inside the temple, running his fingers through his hair. He thought. That word, blitzkrieg. Swift victory. For what? He never fought in a war before. Those battles he has been in didn't count.

"Win the war for me, Blitzkrieg," It was a silent whisper in his head. Jay bit his tongue. The only people in the room with him were Lloyd and Zane, and neither of them could read thoughts. But that voice, that woman, that-the lights flickered. It was storming outside.

"Nice try, you guys." Jay decided to laugh it off as a prank. It had to be a prank, right? Maybe the woman was just a manifestation of how tired he was that day. "I'm not winning any war for you."

"Win what war?" Lloyd raised an eyebrow. He was in the middle of the living room, watching television while Zane sat next to him reading a magazine. The two looked more confused than he was. "If anything, the only war I remember was against my father when you guys were in the First Realm."

"One of you called me Blitzkrieg. Or maybe I'm just thinking too hard about it?" Jay suggested. Either she was good at seduction or he was just easily tricked, and that only happened with Nadakhan. Jay shuddered when he remembered that. "You know what? I'm going to the bathroom."

Turning away, Jay left.

 _You can do better than this, Blitzkrieg._

The lights continued to flicker. Jay felt weird. She was like an invisible ghost, Cole knew what that was like. But she said that he was only using a fraction of his real power. What was his real power? He wished it'd rain and it did.

 _Forget everything you think you know._

Where was he going again? Running fingers through his hair, Jay stopped. He's been doing that a lot lately, actually, Jay forgot when it first started. Where was he?

 _Trust me, if you listen, everything will be just fine, my soldier._

"I'm just saying man, he's been off nowadays," Kai's voice was muffled behind Cole's door. Were they talking about him? Why? "The last one was about a war,"

Last one? Had he been talking about a war?

Jay's felt himself getting whiplash. The bathroom. Right, he was going to the bathroom. Jay couldn't move his legs. Why could he move his legs!?

 _Give in, Jay._

Okay, she said his name, anything for her.

It took all his willpower to move and he did. Opening the door to the bathroom, Jay ran his fingers through the sink. He looked at himself in the mirror, he was so tired. He hadn't been getting any sleep.

 _Listen._

Jay did just that. The light shut off, his eyes were pure blue. Electric and animated. The lights turned back on and Jay immediately fell back. He screamed. His body was in pain.

 _That power. Feel it. Take it. Steal it. Keep it._

He could feel it all, it was a stinging sensation and it was a loud power. Jay couldn't feel anything but he needed it. Perhaps. It hurt. But hurting was good? Wasn't it?

White and blue power were screaming at him, coursing through his veins and he was taking it all, electric sparks were traveling in all directions from his body. It was nice, he felt powerful. He wanted more. More. More. Mo-

Jay was stealing something.

 _You have better things you can pursue._

* * *

Jay gasped and his eyes opened. There was someone calling him. Had he been sleeping? Jay forgets. He was no longer on the floor, now he was on something soft and surrounded by pillows.

This place was unrecognizable.

"Jay! Thank Lloyd's grandfather!" Someone shouted in a relief. They knew his name, they had amber eyes. Jay had passed out. Ah. That's why. "Are you okay?"

"Where am I?" Sitting up, Jay guessed he was in a room of some sort. Something buzzed with static. Jay wanted to steal it and keep it.

"The living room, you were screaming and you passed out, while that happened, you short-circuited Zane somehow." Amber eyes told him. The living room of what exactly? Jay has never seen this place in his life. The buzzing had gotten louder and Jay turned his head towards it, a screen, larger than him was in front.

"What living room? Who are you?" Jay focused on the buzz, he could hear it, it was asking him to steal its power.

"Jay, it's me, Kai. You're in the Airjitzu Temple, don't you remember?"

The Airjitzu Temple. What was the Airjitzu Temple? Jay moved his hand slightly and the screen lit up. Okay. What is the Airjitzu Temple?

A temple built by Sensei Yang, the creator of Airjitzu.

It presented it to him in a box with words. Woah, it was like it read his mind. Wasn't there supposed to be a war? Wait, how did his mind change so quickly? Jay ignored Kai (who did not register into his mind at the moment) and reached out to screen, he could feel the immense amount of power it carried. Jay stole it.

He controlled it.

Thinking again, Jay's eyes wandered to the clear picture of a window, he was looking at a city. It was beautiful, nothing like what he had seen before, not since, the war. What war? He won it swiftly, a change in the weather provided for the enemy's easy defeat. Yeah. That war.

Jay was a war hero.

A blitzkrieg.

* * *

It's been a while and slowly, Jay was getting to know his surroundings, the year was 2018 and he was in New Ninjago City. The ones he was with, the protectors of this era, had thought he had amnesia and tried their best to jog his memory, they were talking to a war hero. While he was, indeed, a war hero, he talked to that woman again, her voice was melodic and instantly Jay loved her and only he could see her, the Daywalker.

But she told him things, good or bad, that the ninja were the enemy in this new war. Jay didn't understand, they were so nice to him, they told him that he was the Master of Lightning, a powerful elemental. Whatever that was. He was trapped in the body of a teenager, but he was older than that. Jay could do things.

Lately, his powers had gotten stronger, he could control technology and the weather but it depended on his emotions. It was a weird thing that he forgets about, the entirety of Ninjago wanted to keep him with stable emotions. He did not have stable emotions.

* * *

-was forgetting again. Who was forgetting again? How did he get here? Standing on top of a tower, there was a strong buzzing sound. It existed right below him. Where everything should be.

A new power.

Laughing, he took that power, but it did not come to him. Instead, it stayed put. The war hero frowned. He tried again. It failed. Failed. Failed. Failed. Fai-

No, that is not how you were supposed to win a war.

Newton's First Law.

This tower's power, it did not want to be stolen, it wanted to fight. It was a need. It was a call. And he listened. Haha, what a joke.

Raising his arm, he could feel it, it's strong and it's humming. He tells it to stop but it does not listen to the soldier. This was a war. Frustrated, he clenched his teeth together, how dare it disrespect him? The clouds were darkening.

Tightening his fists, the war hero let a surge of electricity through his body which transferred itself into the tower, it crackled with its watts of extra power. It took but it did not give. Again and again and again.

 _Win the war, Blitzkrieg._

Okay.

He released another surge of watts, it took, it received, it did not keep it. The power went out. Glass fell and shattered to the ground There was no light anywhere, it was dark, the clouds were dark. Down below, cars skid to a stop, civilians pointed to the sky and thunder rolled louder and louder.

He stole that power.

However, there was more.

Jay wanted to take, take, take. He won one war but it wasn't enough. Two, three, four, five, he could go on. At this point, his power would rival the Master of Energy's, when the time came to fight, he'd make it short and quick. He didn't have time for distractions.

Jay could feel another source of power. Zane, a robot. He was on the tower with him. How did he get there?

"What did you do!?" He shouted at him. Jay traced the outlines of his glowing veins. He could take his power too. Zane's hum of electricity was loud and proud.

"Give it to me," Raising his arm again, sparks of energy emitted and his hand was pure light. Zane only gave him a look to match his determined one. Jay could feel tiny sources of power, so little that they were barely noticeable. Ugh. He didn't like that.

Jay could take all he wanted, he could have all this immense power but Zane was stubborn, much like the tower. Jay could build an army of technology, he could create robots, but, at what cost? There is none. A new experiment and Jay was the main power source.

 _Complete the chain._

Twisting his hand again, the base called for more power. He stayed at his rest. Newton's First Law of Motion, Jay knew this, of course, he did. He taught himself these things. Zane was the unmoving object and Jay was the unbalanced force.

If it wasn't for himself, then he'd do it for the Daywalker.

Another war, another change in the weather.

"I will fight you if I must," The robot told him. "You will be stopped from taking what is not yours."

A crash of lightning and thunder sounded and two combined in a symphony of instruments like an orchestra.

Then it was a blitzkrieg and Jay was going to win it.


	7. Staring at the Eyes of the Ghost

**How could you have been so stupid and utterly disappointing? As the Green Ninja, you should've known better than to follow a stranger into a room alone, more or less, act before you think. Now here you were, staring at the eyes of a ghost. In truth, you were terrified but you had to stay strong. This was no time to back down now.**

* * *

 **Well first, I wanna say this, I haven't written a Reader Insert since the Dark Ages but we don't talk about that. I really do hope you enjoy this, and if you would like me to make another, that'd be cool too, just give me a character and what episode/season. Anyway, as you can probably already tell, I do enjoy writing about Lloyd, so I made a Reader Insert on the first episode of Season 5 (Winds of Change) and what it would be like to be him in that situation so all the dialogue are direct quotes from the show (except for the things that either Morro or You/Lloyd say sometimes), happy reading!**

* * *

"Well, lookie here, the Green Ninja!" Misako had gotten a call from the Museum of History that there was a break-in, and oddly, they only called specifically for you. Entering the museum, two policemen greeted you with smiling faces which wasn't quite what you had expected during a break-in. "Feel safer already!"

"I got your call that there was a break-in?" You said unsurely. The atmosphere was unsettling like there was something or someone else there with you. The second policeman gestured to a night guard huddled in a blanket, in his hands, was a cup of tea.

"The nightwatchman had quite the scare, doesn't remember a thing," He said. You nodded, alright, hopefully, he won't be too fear-stricken to help you in finding the suspect.

"Hasn't been too helpful, maybe you'll have better luck," The first shook his head. You started toward the guard. Right. Hasn't been too helpful. Got it.

"Thanks," You waved the two men off and continued to walk. You weren't all that good at solving this kind of cases, sure you were famous and all, but inside, you were technically a kid who had no idea how to talk to people. Usually when someone asked you questions, you just absentmindedly say anything to please them (or something Kai had told you to say). You stopped once you reached to the victim. "So, you were on guard when it happened,"

Taking a breath, the man stared at the ground with trauma-filled eyes, you took a small gulp. You didn't know how much of a help he could be. The air felt cold. He didn't make any sound but kept breathing in and out heavily. Okay, you felt a little uncomfortable. Maybe.

"Can you tell me what was stolen?" You asked. Now he was hyperventilating. Placing a hand on his shoulder, you tried to give him a warm smile. "I'm here to help you."

Looking down, you could see underneath, there was something blue emitting a light from the night guard's blanket. Before you could open your mouth to say something, his facial expression changed from distress to anger and quickly took your arm to drag you into a corridor. Behind you, one of the policemen had said something about a bathroom.

"I was knocked out," The night guard mumbled, closing the door behind you two. Confused, you looked around, statues of serpentine and bookshelves were all around you. "When I came to, I found the only thing stolen was something wasn't even on display." Pointing to a brown wood-plated box, you noticed that sand was on the ground. Strange. "Just a worthless, old armor breastplate called 'The Allied Armor of Azure,'"

The Allied Armor of Azure? You heard of that somewhere before, maybe your father had mentioned it, who knew? Why was it the only thing stolen? Who could have wanted such a thing? Opening the box, you looked inside.

"Why would a thief leave these priceless relics and take just that?" You wondered aloud. It was funny because you all people should know, it was Thievery 101 taught at Darkely's (not that you were paying attention of course). It was cold again.

"Oh, I don't know," The night guard hummed. "Maybe it's because, when you're in trouble, they say it's got the power to summon allies. Whether they be friends, foes, even spirits from the Cursed Realm."

"The Cursed Realm?" You repeated. Somehow, everything that this man said, it sounded familiar. Wait a minute, you know what that was. That's where you had sent...oh. You came to a sudden realization. "My father is there…"

Turning around you could have sworn that you stopped breathing. Holding his hands above his head, the night guard held a sledgehammer and was ready to swing. He was going to kill you. Jumping out the way before you were a goner, the man then swung the hammer into the sand. Right before you could get up, he swung again hitting the cabinet above you.

You had to escape.

Walking towards you the blanket fell off. You stood shocked. And you were stupid enough to believe him!

"The Allied Armor. You stole it?" Well duh, of course, he did Lloyd! Look, it's right there in front of you! Mentally slapping yourself in the face, you shook off that tenseness weighing on your shoulders. You furrowed your eyebrows.

"So, Wu chose you to be the beloved Green Ninja?" Glaring at you the night guard huffed. "Silly old man."

Moving backward, you frowned.

"How do you know Sensei? And if you've got a bone to pick with me, maybe we can discuss things without weapons?" Ah yes, Lloyd Garmadon, the one who's all about non-violence.

Taking another swing, the night guard hit a couple of boxes above you, only giving you both a second to move. Holding your hands over you like it meant that you wouldn't hurt, the boxes instead fell on your soon-to-be murderer. Moving them out the way, you sighed.

"I don't want to hurt you,"

Grunting, your 'suspect' clenched his jaw and fell backward. Squinting your eyes, you could faintly see a shadow leaving him and entering a painting of Master Chen (Yeah, remember Chen's Island? Jeez, you could remember that as clear as day). It moved. Taking a step back, you blinked. How did it move!?

"What's going on?" The night guard had woken up, perplexed. So, it wasn't him, then who was that? His voice was much older and shaky than the one you had met with before. "Someone was in my head."

Master Chen's painting laughed. You being yourself, grabbed the painting and threw it onto the Serpentine statue, breaking it, during the entire time, you were screaming (For what? Who knew?). You then realized that you were probably going to have to pay for it, but that didn't matter, whoever this thing was, it wanted you. And there was no way you were going to let that happen.

"Your powers are useless. You think you can hurt a ghost?" The shadow snickered from the statue as it taunted you. Using the tail of the statue, it thrust itself out at you and grabbed your waist. It hurt. It hurt so much. "I can possess anything!"

How could you have been so stupid and utterly disappointing? As the Green Ninja, you should've known better than to follow a stranger into a room alone, more or less, act before you think. Now here you were, staring at the eyes of a ghost. In truth, you were terrified but you had to stay strong. This was no time to back down now.

"When he was in my head, I saw his thoughts, the world!" The night guard shouted. "The world will be cursed!"

"You're a ghost from the Cursed Realm," You presumed, hoping that you were able to get out of your restraints soon. There was one more question you needed an answer to, they've been avoided for far too long. "But, how did you escape?"

"When your father opened the door, he should've been more careful what came out!" The ghosts' sand form gave you a malicious smile. You thought for a moment, your father didn't open the rift, you did. Unless…

The ghost surrounded you. You had to think of something, or else you...you...you didn't know. Your plan to escape was halfway complete.

"Hurry! The Allied Armor, give it to me!" You yelled. After tossing you the armor, the ghost grunted and flipped you on your back, your head stung from the impact. You didn't have it. You were really out of luck today.

"Behind you!" The night guard pointed to the sand manifestation. He had the armor.

"You can't have the armor!" You stated, clenching your teeth.

"The armor's nice, but it's not the only thing I want to possess."

"What else do you want?"

"You." The ghost replied. You opened your mouth to retort but no sound came out. There was nothing, just an oblivion. You felt trapped like there was a barrier to keep you from leaving.

"Come on, Lloyd," You told yourself. "This isn't how you're supposed to go!"

You weren't sure if you were dead or if you were just going through a bad dream. Any minute now, you'd wake up from this nightmare in the style of a horror movie and the guys would be there to laugh and joke at it with you. Maybe Zane would be there to cook breakfast and-

It was cold, you shivered.

"Do you always talk to yourself this much?" There was someone behind you, in front of you, beside you. There was someone else with you. He was watching you carefully.

"Where are you?" You turned around. There was no one there, obviously, you were met with a black void. You didn't like this feeling. You've been trapped before, and it was not fun. "I can't see you."

"You're funny, Lloyd Garmadon. I like you." The voice answered. Was this what hypnotism felt like? Your breathing was unsteady, you really didn't like this. Where were you? "Calm down, you're not dead,"

Suddenly, you remembered those poltergeist movies you watched with Jay and Kai sometimes, poltergeists were able to possess things and use their object of choice to their advantage. You were possessed, that did not help you calm down.

"What's your name?" You made a mental note to learn this ghost's name. He wanted something from you.

The ghost hesitated. He could hear your thoughts and you could hear his. Nothing about his name. No matter, you'll learn later.

Your possessor said nothing but you could feel yourself moving. It like he wanted to ignore your questions, that bothered you. At least it helped you release your shaky breath. You could see everything. It was cold again. There was color, you could see your hands. But they were not your hands.

"I'm not letting you go until I get what I want," The ghost murmured.

"And what is that?"

"Destiny made a big mistake in claiming you to be the savior of Ninjago."

It was pretty windy today.

* * *

You've been trying to break out of your state for however long you have been trapped after learning of his true intentions. But he did keep you company, you recognized that you were fraternizing with the enemy. He bluntly ignored you and tried to get you to stop talking to him.

Was this your plan? Was this the famous Green Ninja's plan? To be as annoying as possible? Yes, that was definitely your plan. And only a few times you caught him breaking concentration.

You were looking down a hill, which was near a windmill. Feeling your arm move you saw the ninja. Oh no. You weren't ready. You knew what was going to happen. You had to-

"Step aside," The ghost said. The ninja gave you two confused expressions.

"Lloyd, what's wrong with you?" Jay called out to you. You wanted to say something, you wanted to do something, he wasn't letting you.

"I want a word with your master,"

"Woah, Lloyd's gone through puberty." Again, Jay, with the jokes and the snarky comments.

"What's gotten into him?" Cole looked at the others.

"I sense a foreign entity has taken over his body," Zane confirmed. "So the question isn't what, but who has gotten into him?"

"Whoever you are, whatever beef you have with Sensei, you have with us!" Kai pointed a finger at you-him, both of you. You could hear his thoughts, planning, scheming, knowing. "Give us back our friend!"

Hearing the ghost laugh gave you goosebumps. Think. Think. Think, Lloyd Garmadon.

"How are we supposed to fight a friend?"

This power...it wasn't yours, it was it like a tornado swirling from the sky. It was overriding your own, you just had to keep it inside. Don't let it out, don't let it out, don't let it out.

Nevermind.

"Let me show you!" You were in the air this time, and there was wind from coming from your hand. He was an elemental, the Master of Wind. The ninja were each thrown in different directions.

"Great! We don't have powers but he does!?"

They ran towards you, your body spun around and kicked them. Woah, he was good. Like, terribly good. You were fighting them, he was fighting them, and you were fighting him.

"We may not have powers, but we still know a little thing called Spinjitzu!"

Cole spun and you threw your hands down and a tornado blasted him back.

"So not only does he have powers, but he can control the wind too?"

"Your friends are oblivious idiots," He said to you. "Should've known better than that,"

"Take the truck. Get them out of here, now!" Wu instructed who could be your very first customers.

It was useless of them to fight against you, he was powerful, and he was eyeing something. It was cold again, you had to get out. Now. Someone else would get hurt.

"Our Spinjitzu is worthless against the wind."

"Shurikens? Cute." He chuckled at Zane. Throwing your hand towards the windmill, your possessor moved it towards your team. Come on, come on already! What was taking you so long!? "Try this on for size!"

The doors to Steep Wisdom flew open and you both marched towards it. Yelling at him to stop hurting others didn't work, it only ended up in him yelling at you back. Words that only made you feel bad. You were so terrible.

"Get out!" Nya demanded. But as always, you wouldn't listen. This wasn't your body anymore, you had no control.

"Go stock some shelves, before you get hurt." You threatened. Nya only gave you a stare. There was no way that she was taking 'no' for an answer.

"I'll take you on any time!" Nya argued, her fists slamming down at the table.

"Stay back, Nya." Wu put a hand on her shoulder. "It's me that he wants."

Haha. No. He was wrong.

"Not you, just your father's staff!"

"I see you've found the Allied Armor, Morro," Wu said. "Yet you haven't summoned your friends."

You knew his name now. Great, now you could get out. You had to help in some way. Even if that meant pushing Morro back into the depths of your mind to buy some time.

"Your pathetic students haven't given me a reason to." Morro cocked his head to the side.

"Hey, hey, hey! No one calls me pathetic!" Jay exclaimed. Slamming the door, the objects in the shop fell, shattered glass and tea, it was so loud. You weren't sure how much longer you'd be like this.

"You want the staff? Try to take it." Wu held his staff in front of him. Leaping at him, you, Morro, and Wu fought of it, breaking the table Wu was on. There was something in the staff that Morro needed. But he wouldn't tell you why it was important. You were so close to...doing something...

"You've gotten old. You used to be a great sensei. Now you're just a petty shopkeep." Morro teased your uncle. You saw things, horrible things, now you fully understood why Morro wanted you. He was Wu's first student.

"With age, comes with wisdom," Pushing himself off, Wu flipped over, dropping his staff. Looking in front of him, Morro said curses inside your head. That was exactly what he came for. "A secret message engraved on the staff!"

"The Staff of the First Spinjitzu Master!" Lifting the staff off the ground, it flew into your hands. Behind you, the shelf fell on top and the staff was once again lost. You felt that. You really felt that. Ouch.

"I do more than stock shelves!" Nya could have been a little more gentle with you. You'd be sore by the next morning, that is, if you survived. Catching his staff, Wu nodded.

"Yes, now we leave."

"Give me the staff!" The wind was strong, pushing the shelf off and the things that surrounded it. Kai gave you a determined look, one that said 'Let him go or I'll make you', Kai was a good friend and good big brother. But not good enough to fight Morro. Tackling Kai, Morro hissed. "Foolish ninja, why would you try to take me all by yourself?"

"Because I promised to look after Lloyd!" Kai shot back. This was your moment, you had this. Now was your chance! Kai was in no shape to fight you. "I know you're in there, Lloyd. Fight him!"

"The staff is getting away! Let go of me!" Morro commanded him. Those encouraging words did not stop you from working hard. You were fighting him, the barrier around you eased, you could feel Morro straining to keep you.

"Only when you let go of Lloyd!"

"Kai…" You whispered. Finally, that was you! You've done it. You had to do it fast or else Morro would drag you back down again, just his mere presence was like the chains you were bound to. "Help me-!"

"Lloyd? Is that you?"

Yes! Yes! No! No! No! Really!? You only managed to get three words out! You really are pathetic.

"You really thought I was going to let you take me down, Garmadon? It's not that simple." Morro chastised you. Looking up, the two of you saw Kai getting anchored by the Bounty. Perfect. "You won't get away that easy!"

Pulling your hands towards you, Morro forced the Bounty to fly backward, you knew better. There were thrusters on the ship that urged it to fly away quickly, and it did. Morro cursed for what seemed to be the fiftieth time (and you were still counting). Your head hurt but at least you got something through, that you were still there.

"How could you let this happen, Lloyd?" Morro growled at you.

"Me? You're the one who possessed me, I have nothing to do with this!" You shouted, taken aback. Morro grumbled and waved a hand. In front of you, a dragon was manifested. That was his dragon.

"No matter, I will get that staff. Let's ride, Garmadon,"

* * *

 **Hey guys, for my next story, I need your help. Which one of these stories would you all like to read next? (I've written drafts of them already) (There's only the titles so I won't give away anything :D)**

-Poorly Drawn lines

-How to Conquer Ninjago (And Everyone Who Lives In It): A Five-Step Guide (2-Parter)

-The Ghosts of Destiny's Bounty (Title subject to change)

-There's Been a Million Before Me

-Breathless

-Bring Your Father to School Day

-Grandfather Clock

-Kids Make Terrible Villains

-Off Limits

-Where the Sky and the Sea Meet


	8. Where the Sky and the Sea Meet

**Intangibility was a nice power to bear if you like having your body constantly ripping your cellular structure apart over and over again. Morro hated it. He was like a puppet on strings getting pulled one by one. It hurt. Any hour, any minute, any second, he could disappear into thin air, nothing will leave a trace of him.**

* * *

 **There you go, folks! The most popular vote for the next story was Where the Sky and the Sea Meet! One of the main reasons why I had written this, is because I refuse to believe that Morro had died as a kid, so I included a couple of headcanons (aka this would be an AU) I had made on my Tumblr (and let's also thank Netflix, Ninjago Wiki, and Superpower Wiki for giving me a whole buttload of information and ideas)**

 **A few weeks ago, I watched Ant-Man and the Wasp and I got inspired off of Ghost (the villain) and how her powers worked, so let's get on with it!**

 **WARNING: This contains a brief scene of drowning and self-hate with a reason this time.**

* * *

Cold.

Freezing.

Silence.

Screaming.

Alone, alone, yeah…

Warmth, a burst of color…

Felt...nice…

He could feel it. A hand grabbing his, pulling him. Too weak to grab back.

"Don….go…Mo…."

He was drowning, no use in trying to help him. Couldn't let go. But they wanted him to hold on. Why?

"Morro, come on please!"

That name. He could hear it as clear as day. Hmm. How could he hear? He thought he was drowning.

Water.

Coughing.

Light.

Alive.

Wasn't a ghost anymore. Still dead. Still phasing. It hurt.

Two arms grabbed him. Coughing. Voices were like clouds, soft and thick, he couldn't see them.

Mhm. The air tasted salty today. Phasing again. Color hit his eyes. Still hurts.

"Hngh," Morro tried to make a sound, didn't work. Couldn't make out anything. Something about him staying alive.

"Morro?"

Hadn't had touch in years. This choking feeling made it worse, he coughed water. His lungs hurt but he was still phasing.

Weak.

Selfish.

Tried.

Yin.

He felt tired. Near death experiences were tiring. It's been that way always. He's tired.

Good Riddance.

* * *

"How are you feeling today, Morro?" The nurse asked him. Morro straightened up in his wheelchair. He'd forgotten that he'd been slouching, which was not the proper way to heal.

"Like garbage," He answered. The nurse nodded in acknowledgment and jotted something down on his clipboard.

"Did you take your medication today?" His provider questioned. Morro averted his eyes to the window, the bright light blinded him.

"Yeah," He said. The nurse gave a small smile and crouched down. "But I'm still phasing, it hurts,"

"I figured," Grabbing his wrists, the nurse checked his pulse. "Lloyd is here to see you today,"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yep, he's been worried about you,"

"Obviously, being in a coma for almost two months isn't fun,"

The nurse only hummed as the door opened. Morro sighed, he was still alive. But still dead. Still phasing. Still hurting. Lloyd tried to make some of it better.

Waving a hand, the nurse left the two in silence. Like destiny wanted it to be. Staring at each other awkwardly was the norm, both of them had gotten used to it now. Sitting down on a blue chair, Lloyd held up a bag.

"The guys asked me to bring this to you," Lloyd said. Morro nodded and rolled his way towards him. "They're just Get Well Soon cards,"

"Feel better or it'll make you bitter?" He laughed, immediately knowing who the card was from. "Seems a bit aggressive, and I thought you hated me,"

"Not really, I've seen what you've done in the past,"

There it was. Lloyd and his stupid pity party. Morro didn't want it. After all, he had seen the things Lloyd has done in the past as well. Bad things.

"I knew it," Morro tossed the card to the floor. A couple of weeks ago, Lloyd had mentioned his past before. While in denial, Morro pushed it past his thoughts, it wasn't worth mentioning, he's probably long gone and dead now. "Of freaking course, you came to mention that again! Get over it, Big deal!"

"Sure, but you miss something,"

Morro let out a bitter laugh.

"'Miss' is a strong word, try again later."

"They're thinking about discharging you from the hospital soon," Lloyd said, picking up the fallen card. "What do you plan on doing when you leave here?"

"I'll probably go back to stealing and eating from the dumpsters again," Morro shrugged. He hadn't really decided on what he planned on doing, not only was he now 'human', but he was still considered a villain and he would most likely be arrested or harassed out on the streets. Or, there was another option, it was a little late for that now. "I can't necessarily go back to train with Wu. And besides, it's been what, forty-something years? There's no way that some random stranger would want to take in a teenager who's probably decades older than them and almost cursed them at one point in their lifetime."

"Sounds fun," Lloyd gave a grin mockingly. Morro rolled his eyes and wheeler himself back to the window, and once again, they exchanged silent words. During that, Lloyd gave him a squeeze on his shoulder before leaving. "Just, think about it, okay?"

The more he was left alone in his thoughts, the more Morro had started to consider it. Maybe he could give it a chance again, bottling up his emotions for years wasn't a good idea, especially since it had gotten him killed. Thinking back to the time where he had first ended up in the Cursed Realm, all he could remember was that he was the Preeminent's 'favorite' and she named him her 'Right-Hand'. It was now a vague memory that was fading every passing day. Just like him.

Morro winced as his body spasmed. It was like living a nightmare. He had to face it, he was sick, he was in pain, nobody would help. Too bad. Morro didn't want help anyway.

The good news? Morro was no longer the color of a cursed ghost but rather a ghost of a departed one. The bad news? He gained a new power because of it.

Intangibility was a nice power to bear if you like having your body constantly ripping your cellular structure apart over and over again. Morro hated it. He was like a puppet on strings getting pulledone by one. It hurt. Any hour, any minute, any second, he could disappear into thin air, nothing will leave a trace of him.

Once again, good riddance to him.

* * *

Morro had been staying with the ninja for a few months now (after Lloyd kept pressuring him to not go back to his dumpster-diving ways), and...it was...pleasant. First, no one except Lloyd and Wu liked the idea of having their former enemy hang around. Second, Morro was fully convinced that the remaining ninja were trying to kill him, despite their opposition and confusion against wanting to watch him bleed, and for that, Morro avoided them. He already had enough on his plate. Literally.

Third...third...third...

He didn't want to go back there. Ever.

Morro remembered Lloyd finding him laying on a park bench, wearing special bracelets specially made for him to control his phasing and a long winter coat despite the hot season. Lloyd tried talking to him, saying something about 'forgiveness is important', he couldn't remember. And Morro, being as melancholy as he was, and knowing that he was one day going to die, only gave him a grimace and walked away. Lloyd eventually decided to reason with him, after all, he was the one to pull him out of the sea of death.

Morro didn't want to believe he still here. He used to call this place 'home'. Home? Home. A strange word.

The Temple on Haunted Hill was his home.

Splashing water on his face in the bathroom, Morro watched his reflection 'glitch' in and out, today wasn't getting any better. His chest hurt, like heartbreak, it was a ripping pain, harsh and cold. Lloyd was right all along. He was missing something.

He was homesick.

* * *

Tracing his fingers along the worn walls of the Airjitzu Temple, Morro removed his bracelets and let himself float upwards, to the roof. The sun was setting and it was beautiful, its reflection produced pink and orange clouds over the horizon, the air smelled of fallen leaves and autumn. Looking over the trees, he saw where the sky and the sea met, where the sun let itself sleep.

That's what he missed.

It was nice for a minute but he was quick to catch himself before he fell victim to one of his 'glitches'. Falling on the black tiles, Morro rubbed the back of his head, he was pretty sure that he broke something.

"Do you always have to come and see me when I do this?" Morro said to another ghost who sat next to him. The ghost only grinned in return. "You're really killing me here, Yang."

"You're going to be predictable, _Tomorrow_ ," Sensei Yang, the creator of Airjitzu, replied. Morro scoffed.

"Way to use a pun for my name, _Kodokuna_ ," He snickered. Replacing his bracelets, Morro looked down. "Why are you here?"

"You aren't letting me help you, Morro. Why?"

"I don't need your help, I'd rather let myself die,"

Yang only sighed and gave him a nod. Morro had been trying for months (with the help of Jay, Nya, and Zane and other doctors) to reverse the effects of his transmutation, and they came up with nothing, just new problems that keep repeating itself. Morro had been a ghost before and it shouldn't have been any problem, but, this was different. This process of his was killing him slowly from the inside out.

At this point, he had given up trying to save himself.

There was no cure.

Maybe he'd die at home.

"Remember when I had taken you in after you ran from Wu?" Yang had said after a few minutes of quietness. "You wanted to escape the man that made you believe that you were something that you're not. So you went out of your way to prove him wrong."

"Mhm, I remember, I'm already accepting destiny's rules," Morro sighed. "Eventually, I ran because you were dumb enough to try to make yourself immortal, and there was no way that I was going to let happen,"

"Yes, and you were foolish enough to run away to a cave and get yourself killed."

"I think that we can both agree that we both got what we wanted but it ended in up in tragedy, I got to be the Green Ninja and you got to be immortal."

The sun had finally gone down and Morro pulled his legs up against his chest. After he had run away from Wu's Monastery, he had stumbled upon Haunted Hill which led him to Sensei Yang's Airjitzu Temple. When Yang had decided to use the Yin Blade to make himself immortal, Morro was lucky enough to escape and ended up in the Cave of Despair after receiving the wrong directions. Now here he was, dying for what seemed to be the third time in his entire undead life.

When he stayed at home, Yang was kind and made him feel important and didn't use him for his own personal gain, unlike Wu. Yang told him that he wanted to find a way for internal life and Morro told him that he wanted to be the legendary Green Ninja, and the only way to do that was to find the First Spinjitzu Master's tomb. Morro trusted him, they'd go out to garden while his students trained or Morro would spend time alone to read books. Yeah, Morro missed home, he was treated better there than at the Monastery.

Morro had eventually decided to call it home.

* * *

 _"Morro, tell me, why did you leave the Monastery?" Yang lowered Morro's book from his hand as the boy was reading currently on the roof._

 _"I left so I could go prove to him that I am the Green Ninja, I hate destiny," Morro muttered to himself. "Why would I go through all that training only to find out that I'm not the Green Ninja? He used me!"_

 _Morro's body flickered for a second, the latter paid it no attention, Yang, however, took notice but took no thought to question it._

 _"Where the sky and the sea meet, there is a horizon," Yang said. Morro looked up at him with tired eyes._

 _"What does that mean?"_

 _"It means that there is always a balance between two things, it serves as a metaphor for Yin and Yang, kind of like me and you,"_

 _"So, we're both bad and good?_

 _"No, not necessarily-" Yang stopped mid-sentence when Morro yawned. "Here, let's get you to-"_

 _"It hurts!"_

 _"Don't let go, please!"_

 _"Morro...Mor...Mo..m-!"_

* * *

Morro's head pounded as the memory faded away, he had no idea what it was about, he forgot to pay attention. He was losing control. He was going to die. He was going to die. He was going to-

"Morro!" Yang quickly took his hands as Morro suffered his fits. Screaming and crying, living and dying. The pain was insufferable. "Breathe!"

"Don't let go, please!"

"Morro, listen to me, breathe!"

"I'm going to die!"

Yang squeezed his hands in reassurance and pressed them on his chest.

"Feel this, this your heartbeat, you are alive," Yang spoke to him. Morro practiced to breathe in and out slowly, didn't work, his phasing didn't let him.

"I can't! I can't feel anything!" Morro let himself hover above the roof a little. Crickets were beginning to chirp. "I've been doing this for who knows how long! Just my very existence alone is a curse! One day, I'll disappear and no one will care!"

"You really think so?" Yang asked him softly. Morro wiped his tears from his cheeks. "Do you think that I wouldn't grieve over you, knowing that I'd never be able to see you again?"

"I'm going to die, I don't want to go. It's too soon, I haven't found a cure yet," Morro said softly. Yang exhaled a slow breath and allowed the two 'ghosts' to sit back down on the black tiles again. The stars were bright and shining tonight.

"Where the sky and the sea meet, there is a horizon,"

Morro said nothing of it but kept his mouth closed. There was a balance in everything, and maybe he was missing out on something important. Perhaps destiny was ready to apologize for making his life so miserable. He hoped so.

"They'll come looking for me, the ninja, I mean," Morro said at last.

"Then you should catch up with them," Yang replied.

"Nah, do you mind if I stay here, just for a little while, with you? Or until I disappear or pass out?"

"Do whatever you'd like," Yang stared off into the distance. Morro leaned a little into him. "Welcome home, _Tomorrow_."

If he died tonight, at least he knew that someone wanted him to stay alive and cared about him. Morro was going to put in all his effort to make it so. Closing his eyes, Morro felt himself shifting. This time, it didn't hurt as much.

Good, he was making progress.

* * *

 **Up Next:**

-Bring Your Father to School Day

 **(Totally did not just listen to Ghost by Mystery Skulls while editing this)**


	9. The Qualities of a Father

**"Lloyd?" Koko's voice softened. Lloyd covered his face and pushed past the Squad and ran out of the classroom. He had no idea where he was going. It was just...too much. Too much to handle. Too much like a father.**

* * *

 **I'm a sucker for the Movie!Lloyd/Koko Garmafam and roasting Movie!Lord G. to no end (Previously called Bring Your Father to School Day)**

* * *

The Task: Today was Bring Your Dad to School Day. The Problem: Lloyd didn't have a dad. Well, not one that wasn't an evil warlord bent on destroying Ninjago City. It was what separated him from the other kids at school. Right, school. The one that he still had to go to.

"Mom, I don't wanna go to school today," Lloyd mumbled over breakfast; Fruit Loops and a banana. His mother, Koko, gave him a frown.

"Oh? Why not?" She asked him. Lloyd shoved a spoonful of cereal into his mouth and started to speak, Koko tsked at him. "Not with your mouthful, Lloyd. You're a big boy now,"

A big boy? Lloyd was in the third-grade! He was far from a big boy! Nevertheless, he swallowed his cereal.

"They've got a day called Bring Your Dad to School," The blonde said, continuing to eat. Koko looked up over her coffee. "Everyone's gonna bring their dad and I can't bring mine,"

"What if I come and be your dad for a day?" Koko suggested. Lloyd looked at her with wide eyes, his mom can't also be his dad! That's impossible!

"No thanks,"

His mother gave her son a look before sighing sadly.

"Alright then, finish up,"

Lloyd nodded and slurped his cereal, and then put it in the sink for washing. Grabbing his Fritz Donnegan backpack, he sat down on the couch to wait. His mother's offer got him thinking, what if his mom could also be his dad too? That'd be a cool idea, but again, impossible. It looks like he was just going to have to suffer the name-calling, again.

Moms were nothing like dads, they're sensitive and sweet while dads are tough and they knew what was up. Koko was a police officer and was definitely all of those things, the thought of him thinking too hard about it made his head hurt. Laying on his stomach, Lloyd put his face into a pillow until Koko tapped his legs.

"Sit up, Lloyd, you're going to school, not taking a nap," She grinned. Lloyd giggled from behind the pillow and continued to press his face into it, earning a chuckle from his mother. "Alright, kiddo, let's go,"

"Mom, if I go, they'll tease me!" Lloyd said, his voice muffled from the pillow.

"Well, if they do that, I'll just have to come as your dad and beat them up if you don't do it first," Koko joked to her son. Lloyd only blew raspberries and got up to leave.

* * *

Ah yes, Ninjago Elementary School, Lloyd's favorite place in the world. Not. Lloyd resented it as much as he did vegetables and girls and doing chores. She was like that nightmare Lloyd had one time, her jaw-like doors were large enough to eat little children just like him, her 'eyes' could see everything, there was no escape. Lloyd didn't want to get out of the car.

Holding his seatbelt tightly, Lloyd shrunk down in his seat as his mother parked.

"I don't wanna go in," Lloyd said.

"Do you want me to go in with you?" Koko reached back and ruffled her son's hair. Lloyd sat up and unbuckled his seatbelt.

"No, I'm good," Lloyd opened the door and got ready to step out.

"Hey look! It's Lloyd Garmadork!"

Upon hearing this, Lloyd immediately sat back in the car and put on his seatbelt again. Koko turned around and raised an eyebrow. She opened the car door for him and pulled him out.

"They're gonna make fun of me 'cause my dad's evil!" Lloyd held onto the car door to keep himself from moving any further from his mother's grasp. "It'll be even worse 'cause he isn't here!"

"Don't you think that you're overreacting, Lloyd?" Koko asked him. Lloyd said nothing but looked away, his eyebrows knitted together. Koko kissed his forehead and hugged him. "It'll get better, okay? I promise you before this is over you'll get a big surprise,"

That made Lloyd perk up his head. A surprise? What kind? She never specified what kind of 'surprise', are they going to the movies? Shopping for that new Fritz Donnegan action figure he's been asking about for a few weeks now? Or perhaps it's that new-

She had left.

* * *

Lloyd still had a lot to think about when he entered the school filled with dads, the auditorium, again, filled with dads, and finally, his classroom, once more, filled with dads. Tall dads, short dads, nerdy dads, buff dads, and of course the Squads' dads. Oh, how Lloyd has never felt more jealous of them than ever.

The Squad was a group of four kids that were seemingly the 'most popular kids in the third-grade', just seeing them together was like woah...but seeing their dads together was like WOAH! Their dads looked as if they were the most important people in Ninjago: Kai's dad looked as if he worked out and carried tools around his waist, looking just as proud as his son, Jay's dad wore overalls and pulled a wagon with a blanket over it in tow, he and Jay both wore goggles over their heads, Zane's dad was an aged man, a scientist (or inventor) Lloyd had presumed, both looked quiet and minded to themselves, then Cole's dad was a presenting dad himself, humming tunes to songs just as Cole was. Lloyd wished he had something in common with his dad. The only thing he actually had from his father was his fangs that beginning to grow.

Lloyd could hear other kids giggling at his loneliness, their fathers paid no attention, Lloyd didn't mind. His mind raced back to his mother, he was still thinking about her and how she'd impact his life, she was strong like a father should be. She was stern with her rules (Brush your teeth in the morning and in the evening, do your homework, make sure that you go to bed on time, remember to wash your face), she was fun, protective, supportive, and she even knew her own son's boundaries. That was all of the qualities a father should have.

Lloyd loved her.

But then again, she was only his mother, nothing more.

His teacher had started thanking the fathers for coming and eventually, he let her voice drone off into the background but it picked right back up when Jay had been the first to raise his hand. The teacher pointed at him and immediately Jay pulled his hand down, his dad smiled at him and ruffled his hair. Jay had got called upon.

"Um, can we go first?" Jay's voice was almost a whisper, very small and quiet. Lloyd knew, as everyone else did, that Jay was the shy one of the Squad, born with the ability to do anything, but too afraid to act it out. Jay looked down and hid underneath his scarf.

"It's fine if you don't want to, Jay," His father said to him. Jay furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the wagon. "We can wait,"

"No, no, it'll melt if we don't!" Jay sat up and pulled his father out of the chair that he was sitting to the front of the class. "I'm Jay Walker and this is my dad! He's an inventor!"

"Indeed I am an inventor, my name is Ed for all you younglings out there," Jay's father chuckled lightly. "And Jay helped me make ice cream for you all!"

Jay pulled off the cover and a machine shined under the dimly lit light. It bore blue and orange stickers shaped like lightning, an egg beater in the middle, handles, and a smiley face in the center of it. Ingredients for homemade ice cream lay next to it as well as a bucket of ice that didn't seem to melt. Gasps and squeals of excitement came from Lloyd's fellow classmates and the Squad. The machine whirred.

"Woah, Jay's dad is the coolest!" Someone had said next to him.

After getting applauds, Jay and Ed went to the back to start making ice cream. Lloyd frowned, unsure if there would even be enough for everyone, more or less, for him. The next hand to be raised was Zane.

"My name's Doctor Julien," Zane's father introduced himself and Zane stood excitedly next to him. "And of course, you all know my son Zane, who is most definitely not a robot,"

The crowd laughed. Zane always made a joke that he was not a robot, first, it was funny, and now, Lloyd didn't know what to believe anymore. Dr. Julien brought a little robot called Tai-D, who roamed around the class on its wheels and also he carried a falcon (who seemed to be very well-mannered) for the students to take turns petting. Lloyd didn't approach the falcon.

See, if Lloyd had brought his dad, which was highly unlikely, he would probably bring his pet sharks and they would eat everyone on sight. Lord Garmadon was the worst guy on the planet but he was still his father, Lloyd couldn't hate him. Nope, nevermind, Lloyd hated him, even if he wasn't his dad.

After Dr. Julien, they got ice cream. Lloyd was the first one to get his since he was closest to Jay and Ed in the back, Jay gave him a small wave and handed him chocolate ice cream. Lloyd smiled a little and thanked him before Jay moved to the rest of the class. That was sweet of him...just like that ice cream.

Lloyd learned that Kai's dad name was Ray and he was a blacksmith and Cole's dad was Lou, a Royal Blacksmith. They weren't the same thing. Everyone else had gone as the hour went by, it was almost time for lunch and they had a movie to watch afterwards. third-grade was too much sometimes. Their dads were so cool and his was just-

Overhead, the intercom made a ringing sound.

"May I have your attention please," The chatting in the classroom ceased. "We would like to ask all fathers to report to the auditorium for our special giveaway ceremony! We thank you all for being here and supporting your children as much as we do, thank you!"

There were muttering around the classroom and amusement. Their teacher informed the fathers that she would guide them to the auditorium (like they needed it) and asked her students to wait while she did so. Once she left, all eyes were on Lloyd.

"Where's your dad, Lloyd?" Someone shouted.

"Yeah, Lloyd! Where's your daddy!?" Another laughed.

Other voices joined them.

"Bet you that he's too busy planning to destroy Ninjago!"

"Get yourself a real dad, Garmadork!"

"Your dad's evil and so are you!"

Lloyd wanted to go home.

A blur of red stood in front of him.

"Hey!" Kai threw out his hands, next to him, Jay, Cole, Zane gave the insulters looks of disgust. "Leave him alone! Just 'cause his dad is evil doesn't mean that you gotta be mean to him!"

For a second there, Lloyd had actually thought that they were-

"Why are you helping me? I'm okay." Lloyd whispered.

"'Cause you aren't gonna help yourself, Lloyd," Cole turned around and nodded. "Honestly, you're kinda pathetic in that field,"

"Dad or not, getting picked on is rude and no one deserves it!" Jay added.

"It's totally uncool!" Zane finished.

"You're never okay when you're being bullied, Lloyd," Kai said as he put his hands on his shoulders. Lloyd stared at him for a few seconds, it was just, this kindness was too nice. It was foreign, Lloyd actually felt...good for once. "We'll stick up for ya, if you want,"

"I-um, thanks?" Lloyd was unsure of what to say. Wait, why didn't they do this when he was being-

The door opened. Lloyd had gotten used to being interrupted by now. His teacher was followed by another woman. She and Lloyd locked eyes.

"I'm sorry that I was late, Lloyd," She said. "Did I miss anything?"

"Mom?" Lloyd said quietly. He couldn't believe it, Koko, his mother, was here. But, she had work, she was still in her uniform. Lloyd was thinking too much.

It was quiet.

"Remember your 'surprise' that I mentioned before I left?" Koko made jazz hands. "Surprise, honey!"

Lloyd blinked slowly, his throat burned. Today was a long day, he had a lot on his plate at the moment. His mother was always there for him and made sure that he was always included, no matter what. And he was crying in the middle of class.

"Lloyd?" Koko's voice softened. Lloyd covered his face and pushed past the Squad and ran out of the classroom. He had no idea where he was going. It was just...too much. Too much to handle. Too much like a father.

* * *

She had all the qualities of a father.

She had all the qualities of a father.

She had all the qualities of a father.

She had all the qualities of a-

Mother? Father? Caretaker?

"Lloyd!" His mother was calling him, Lloyd had hidden in the boy's bathroom. "Lloyd, where are you!?"

The door to the bathroom opened and Lloyd pulled his knees in closer to himself, no one ever checked the last stall.

"I know you're in here, please, talk to me, sweetheart," Koko worried, her heels clicked against the tiled floor. Lloyd sniffed. She even knew him like a father would. Lloyd wondered how he even knew what having a father was like, Fritz Donnegan had done a good job at that.

"Why'd you come, mom? You didn't have to," Lloyd said. Koko stopped at the end of the bathroom, Lloyd could see her legs from behind the door. "It's okay,"

"What kind of father would I be if I didn't show up to my kid's special school event?" Koko laughed from behind the door, Lloyd laughed with her. She still insisted on being called his 'father'. He loved her for that.

"Probably a bad dad at that," Lloyd stayed quiet for a minute for speaking again. "Thank you for being my dad, mom."

"And thank you for being my very brave little boy, Lloyd,"

Lloyd got up and opened the door to hug her, never wanting to let go. She hugged him back. They stayed that way for a few minutes. Just a 'father' and her son, together.

Strong, Independent, Protective, Supportive, Stern, Brave, Thoughtful.

Lord Garmadon may be his father, but he wasn't his real dad.

* * *

"This is my mom, Koko!" Lloyd held hands with his mother, smiling when they had come back to the class, the remaining fathers were there to see it. "And she's the best dad I could ever ask for!"

Giggles and laughter in the class erupted, the two joined them. Kai, Jay, Zane, and Cole high-fived him while Koko got applauds and compliments from Ray, Ed, Dr. Julien, and Lou. Overall, it was a good day and nothing was ever going to change that.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Lloyd and Koko went out to eat and then went for ice cream (Jay's ice cream was great, but Lloyd was still hungry for more). Now, Lloyd was in his space-themed pajamas and tucked in his bed. Lloyd rubbed his eyes sleepily.

"G'night, dad," He mumbled as Koko kissed his forehead and turned off the light.

Koko smiled as closed the door to his bedroom.

"Goodnight, Lloyd,"

* * *

 **Up Next:**

-The Ghosts of Destiny's Bounty

 **(Breathless is no longer an option)**


	10. The Ghosts of Destiny's Bounty (Uno)

**"Come on! Everyone knows how they died!" Lloyd threw his hands up. "Just last week I met a guy who got eaten by a whale because he wanted to feel what it was like inside a whale's mouth like in the movies,"**

* * *

 **Funny story actually, I mean to write this for Halloween, but me, being me, decided against it**

 **Based off of Sixth Sense (I love that movie) (Heavily references a whole lot of stuff, good luck figuring them out)**

* * *

 **WARNING: Death, death, death...and more death, um, yeah, that's all the context that you'll get for now, so, uh, be warned kiddos (It's just humor and angst mixed into one story, so y'all know the drill)**

 **This is very long, jeez**

* * *

"Good afternoon, class, I trust that you all had another spooky weekend," The week before Halloween meant that the Middle School teachers would do nothing but share ghost stories. The closer it got, the scarier the stories began to get...well...scary. This particular teacher was the King of Ghost Stories. "Are you ready for another story?

"No…" Nya muttered quietly. After the last one about a thirty-seven-year-old man named Ronin, who owed his soul to the Soul Archer, she didn't think that she could take any more. Beside her, Lloyd tried to keep a straight face, it wasn't like he already knew about Ronin and wasn't already well-acquainted with the dead man. Wait, yes he was.

"What about you Mr. I'm-not-afraid-of-ghosts?" The self-proclaimed King of Ghost Stories asked Lloyd.

"Oh yeah, I'm totally ready," Lloyd mumbled and looked away from the stares he was getting. There was a problem here, he could see ghosts, and no one believed him, except Nya. To add on to that, Lloyd was always afraid of them, no matter what they said.

Their teacher cleared his throat. The marker on the board squeaked as the teacher then wrote down a couple of words: The Destiny's Bounty. Lloyd's head immediately shot up.

"So, tell me Class of 2020, have you ever heard of the ghosts that have haunted the Destiny's Bounty?" He asked them. Lloyd has, and he was friends with all of them. Raising a hand eagerly, Lloyd finally had a chance to say something worth listening too. "Really, Lloyd? You of all people was who I least expected to know,"

"Yeah, but can I tell the story this time? I have something that might be even better!" Lloyd stood up from his seat. Raising an eyebrow, his teacher nodded.

"By all means, go ahead."

Nya gave him a questionable before gesturing him to move on. Lloyd smiled, this story, in particular, he had never told anyone, not even to his father who...Lloyd shook his head and continued forward. Two years ago, Lloyd had stumbled upon a crashed ship (which had been turned into an attraction) and inside, was not what he had expected.

"So, you've heard of ghosts possessing furniture, haunting the woods and broken down buildings, right?" Lloyd faced the class. Murmurs of 'yes' urged him to go on. "Well, what about a group of ghost friends playing Uno?"

That got the class laughing.

"Haha, you think that's funny but it's true!"

* * *

"How many times are you gonna pull a wild card on us?"

"As long as I keep getting them, which is most likely just my luck,"

"I thought you weren't superstitious,"

"I'm not?"

Lloyd has been to the Destiny's Bounty many times before and nothing had compared to this, voices whom he'd never heard before. Were they new ghosts that had just died? If so, Lloyd watched the news often, surely he would already know. Never once had he seen ghosts playing cards before.

Around a corner, there was a room that had previously closed down, it was filled with ninja gis and golden weapons. But, none of these guys looked like they were ninjas, so, why were they playing some game in a room that has been closed down as an exhibit for almost five years now? Lloyd almost forgot that his mother would most likely be searching for him, he ran off to 'explore'.

There were four ghosts, color-coded, to be exact. A red ghost, who was shuffling the cards, burn markings across his 'skin', his body supported a hue of a fire. A blue ghost, lightning markings on his back and arms that glowed, little sparks of electricity popped off of him. A white ghost, who, every time he exhaled, let out a smoke of ghosting coldness from his mouth, his fingers were like ice. Then a black but still transparent ghost, protruding rocks stuck out from his back in uneven rows, down his arms, it was almost like lava, a red and orange mixture.

All of these ghosts had no pupils, which made them completely different from the rest.

"Are you gonna just stand there and spy on us, kid? Or are you gonna come and join us?" The red one asked, not looking up from his shuffling once.

"Can I?" Lloyd asked him back. The ghosts froze in their seats.

It was quiet for a few seconds like they hadn't expected it.

"You can see us?" The blue turned around, his eyes were mesmerizing. He literally surged of electricity.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" Lloyd thought that everyone knew that he could see them, ghosts at that.

The red one was the one to speak again next, placing his cards down to each of the other ghosts face down.

"You're not dead...unless you're a different kind of ghost," He shrugged uncaringly. "Guess we gotta get with the times now, 2013 really is going by fast,"

"I'm human, I think, and I see dead people and evil ghosts," Lloyd whispered quietly, shuddering to himself. And here he wanted to talk to ghosts who would most likely hurt him, just as a few of them did to him a few weeks back. He decided against telling them his name.

"A mortal with the ability to see spirits? That is certainly interesting," The white ghost said, puffing out his icy breath. When Lloyd finally stepped out from his hiding place, he noticed that each ghost wore different types of clothing. Probably from different time periods.

"We have cards ready for you if you want, come on," The rock-impaled ghost gestured to seven cards and an empty seat. Lloyd stepped back.

"Nevermind, I'll just go,"

"Why? You just got here," The blue one spoke again. "If you think that we're going to hurt you, you're way off course, buddy,"

Lloyd had to let out a forced laugh. Right, because that was exactly what Morro said, Harumi said, Master Chen said, and even evil spirits like Pythor and the Overlord had said. They weren't nice ghosts.

"I'm sorry, please don't hurt me," Lloyd muttered. The ghosts shared looks of concern as he turned around to leave. Lloyd shivered away the cold.

* * *

"Hold on," The King of Ghost Stories stopped him. "So you 'met'" He said in parentheses. "These ghosts playing Uno and then you left, did you ever go back?"

Lloyd smirked.

"I'm not done yet," Lloyd began to use different colored markers to draw the ghosts and what they looked like, surprisingly enough, they looked pretty good. "This is their visual by the way,"

Lloyd turned back to talk.

* * *

"So, you came back again?" The red ghost asked him once more. It was true, sometimes Lloyd would come to see them and they were still there, playing Uno. His mother, Misako, didn't mind, she did work at the Bounty.

"Do any of you know how you died?" Lloyd stepped out from his hiding spot and leaned against the far end of the room.

"Uno!" The blue ghost shouted and threw his last card down. "Here's the thing, none of us remember who we were before this. I don't even remember who my parents were!"

"Come on! Everyone knows how they died!" Lloyd threw his hands up. "Just last week I met a guy who got eaten by a whale because he wanted to feel what it was like inside a whale's mouth like in the movies,"

"As funny as that sounds, it's true, none of us remember, all I know is that my name is Kai and I'm a teenager." The red ghost started shuffling and put down a red card with a skip sign, the black ghost groaned. "And honestly, I don't want to know how I died, probably from doing something stupid."

"The only thing we know is of our markings, which indicates our deaths in theory," The ice ghost said.

"Right, what Zane said, speaking, of, we also know our death years," The electric ghost nodded. "Zane's the oldest, he died around the 1800's-"

"1888,"

"Then Cole, in the late 1960s, then me, Jay, 1989," The blue ghost, Jay, pointed to Kai. "Then Kai, the new one, 2010,"

"2010?" Lloyd questioned softly. Kai looked away, his flames burning brighter and higher. "That was three years ago,"

"We don't like to talk about it," He said.

Lloyd nodded and respected that.

He sat down and played with them.

* * *

Kai threw down a yellow seven and Lloyd put down a 'Draw Two' card. Kai took two cards from the middle deck. Lloyd then played a wild card.

"I call red!"

"You're being mean today," Kai huffed and stuck his tongue out, seeing as he has none of them.

"I'm just being lucky," Lloyd laughed. "Nya and I worked on a school project together, and we got an A!"

"You talk about Nya a lot, how is she?" Kai put down a red zero. Lloyd hummed.

"She says that she missed her brother," Lloyd replied, a slid down a skip and went again.

"What happened to him?"

"I dunno, she won't-"

Lloyd dropped his card to the floor, he and Kai reached for it. Their hands touched and Lloyd smelled smoke. There was a fire.

* * *

 _Inhaling of the fumes burned his throat and squeezed his lungs, he couldn't pass out now, she needed him. Moving past the burning objects that fell from above, they hurried past a couple who were already dead, he heard her gasp. Picking her up, he ran._

 _"Kai! What if we don't make it out on time!" His sister squealed as the fire grew, it crawled up the walls to the ceiling._

 _"Listen, I promise you, we will get out of this together!" Kai shouted at his sister. He could see the stairs where the firemen were guiding people out, the haze was thick enough for them not to spotted. Nya screamed as a piece of the ceiling fell on him._

 _"Kai? Kai!" Slowly, Kai could see someone approaching the door. Getting up, he carried her again, they needed to get out, they had to._

 _The apartment building trembled and roared._

 _The stairs were burning, but Nya was small enough to get through._

 _"Nya, go, I'll catch up!" He ushered to go leave. Nya cried and shook her head._

 _"No! I can't leave you!"_

 _"Nya, please!"_

 _The door handle burned his hands but he didn't care, his sister needed him._

 _Something fell from behind him. He inhaled another helping of smoke and embers. Kai looked up, it was too cramped for the both of them. There was no way past._

 _"Nya, no matter what, remember me, okay? I'll find you, I promise."_

 _"Kai!"_

 _Before she could even say his name once more, Kai opened the door and pushed Nya inside. Nya pounded from behind it, he was too exhausted to keep going. Kai could hear Nya's cries and eventually, it stopped. She must have left. It was too late to go after her anyway._

 _The fire engulfed him and the building collapsed, it hurt, it burned, it stung, it-_

 _It what?_

 _He felt nothing._

 _The air tasted salty and bitter today._

* * *

Sucking in a breath, Lloyd looked up. Kai's eyes were bright, instead of being devoid of pupils, two auburn orbs met his red ones, Kai was crying. Lloyd didn't know what to say. There was nothing to say.

"I saved her so that she didn't have to die," Kai sighed and wiped a tear from his face. "Nya's my sister! Lloyd, I remember it all now!"

"I'm sor-" Lloyd gasped as he was pulled into a hug.

"Don't be, kid," Kai gave him a small smile. "Man, if the guys were here, they'd make fun of me for sure," He chuckled to himself. Releasing Lloyd, he sat down again and pulled out a wild card. "C'mon, let's finish this game, I call blue,"

"Where are you going after this?" Lloyd asked him. Kai grinned.

"I'm going to see my little sister, I made a promise,"

* * *

This week, he and Jay weren't playing Uno, they were discussing the old Fritz Donnegan movies. The man was old as old could get, but he was still kicking. Speaking of old-

"In Episode Five, remember when Fritz went to face his father, Maximus, the living planet!?" Jay hovered over the bunk that lay close to the edge of the room. To be honest, Lloyd wasn't really listening, he was too busy thinking of the incident he and Kai went through a few days ago. Lloyd wanted to try again. "And then Yudu, the leader of the Raiders, busted a ship to his face, it was so sick!"

"Gimme your hand, Jay," Lloyd said. Jay stopped talking and made his way back down.

"Why?"

"Um, I wanna try something," Lloyd lied. Jay hesitantly gave him his hand. Surges of electricity made him shudder, the room exploded in a bright light.

* * *

 _An experiment went wrong, his father was working with a reactor, seemingly to test certain molecules and how they reacted when brought together with electricity. The reactor hummed and buzzed, sparks popped, making his ears hurt. Something flew off the tower of the reactor, it hit the switch, which sparked violently._

 _"Jay, we have to go!" His father shouted. Jay rapidly blinked, searching for something. "The lab will combust if we don't hurry!"_

 _Jay quickly typed on the computer, imputing codes and a final-_

 _"I got it! I know what we did wrong!" Jay shouted from over the noise. An explosion and Jay fell. Coughing, he stood up slowly, steadying himself on the desk. "We have-" A spark. "We have to turn it off, it'll explode if we don't!"_

 _"Jay, we have to get out of here, it's too-" Jay didn't hear the last part. He knew that he could save them both if he could just reach it. Yes, it was dangerous and risky, but he had to, or...or it'll level the city. It was a nuclear bomb. "I can't lose you as I did to your mother!"_

 _Jay adjusted his goggles. He lost his mother when he was a child, she was involved in a lab accident. Jay put on a brave face, to save himself, he could care less. He cared more about the people._

 _"Dad, go, I got this!" The lights flickered and bolts of energy spun like a tornado_

 _"No, Jay, it just isn't fair-"_

 _Jay stopped him._

 _"Fair? Fair isn't a word where I come from!" Jay ran towards the switch and made the motion for his father to leave. Tears were leaving his eyes, Jay already knew of the possibilities, he was going to die. And he was all for it._

 _He pulled it._

 _And he screamed._

 _He couldn't tear his hands away, his hands were stuck like glue._

 _Screaming as electricity coursed through his veins._

 _He couldn't see, it was dark._

 _At least he died knowing that nobody except him went with their head exploding._

 _That was an understatement._

* * *

Lloyd could see the disturbance in Jay's now blue eyes. Actually, he looked disappointed than impressed. Lloyd felt like asking why.

"Okay, so I said the best cheesiest last words I have ever heard and then I literally blew out my brains," Jay pulled away from Lloyd. "What the heck man,"

"Wow Jay, I always knew that you were a nerd, but I didn't know that you were almost a genius!" Lloyd stared at him. Jay rubbed his neck nervously.

"Yeah, too bad my old man's not around to see me now talking to a four-year-old!"

Lloyd nudged him playfully.

"I'm twelve! And besides, I think he'd be glad to see you now. Luckily for you, I happen to know where the Walker family graves are,"

"You do?" Jay raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I visit the graveyard a lot, my dad was buried there, sometimes we go there to visit," Lloyd nodded. Jay ruffled his hair.

"Well then, Mr. Medium, let's go,"

* * *

"First of all, Lloyd, you can't just throw a Reverse on me and immediately go back on yourself, that's not how Uno works," Cole glanced up from his two cards in his hands. Lloyd had his tongue hanging out. Behind him, Jay and Kai were looking over his shoulders and holding up several fingers. Zane was outside meditating. "You're confusing the audience,"

Lloyd spun around just as Jay and Kai put their hands down, looking away like they weren't guilty.

"They're just dirty cheaters," Lloyd said and pulled a skip card.

"Funny, because you pulled the exact same thing when you made me remember my past-" Kai had his hands over his mouth faster than Jay could talk. Cole opened his mouth.

"Didn't catch that, you saw what-"

Lloyd grabbed his arms. The ground shook, cracks traveled up the ceilings.

* * *

 _Of course the summer of '67 was one of the worst years to go through with an earthquake in Ninjago, and of course, Cole and his father, Lou, were caught in the middle of it. It had to be the worst one yet, every five minutes, a wave of disturbance interrupted the shifting ground a caused several buildings to collapse. Just like this one._

 _Lou was currently being put into his wheelchair (as he had broken his foot earlier in the year), and Cole was pushing him out the door. The Marty Oppenheimer School of Performing Arts was a large school, and finding an exit was just as hard as finding the ballet class, Lou had taught chorus and Cole had just happened to find him at the right time. The students had already left hours earlier before the scale had spiked. He insisted that he'd stay behind 'just in case nothing happened'._

 _He knew now to know better than that._

 _Both of them had made a big mistake._

 _The earthquake had gotten worse and they were high up on the balcony of the building and that was already just as unstable. Cole swerved a corner just as he was cut off from the top exits._

 _"Is there any other exits here besides that one, pops? 'Cause that exit ain't letting us split any time soon!" Cole's eyes darted to the door in the back, the one where the stairs went down. Behind him, a window shattered and a pillar collapsed._

 _"On this floor, zilch, except for the one far ahead-" Lou didn't even get to finish his sentence when Cole pushed him faster, making the older man hold onto the sides. Trophies lay broken on the floor._

 _"Cole! Over here, man!" One of Cole's friends, a fellow dancer, called them over just as he was helping stragglers of employees out. The ground swayed again, earning a few screams from those who were trying to get out. Cole could see the ceiling cracking itself and pushed his father's wheelchair forward, leaving him behind._

 _Cole only caught a glimpse of his face before the ceiling fell in front of him._

 _"Cole!" His father called out._

 _"It's all good, pops! I'll meet you outside, 'kay?" Cole called back. No response. Turning around, Cole had to find a way out, his exit was lost and he was trapped. His only other option was to jump off the building and hoped that something would be there to catch him. It was stupid but it might just work._

 _Cole stood over the edge of the balcony on the inside of the building, the support failing to hold it up. Taking a breath, Cole spotted a couch, hoping that it would soften his fall, Cole took a step forward. The ground quaked again and Cole fell over the sides, holding onto the railings, it tilted slightly. Cole was a good climber but this wouldn't do._

 _One bad slip and he fell._

 _Impaled in some broken supports._

 _He never met up with his father outside._

* * *

"I'm sorry, Cole! I panicked!" Lloyd tried to justify himself. It was the tenth time that he'd use this power and he still hadn't gotten used to it. It scared him.

Cole's eyes were an earthy brown, and usually, Cole was strong, but he was pained and terrified as of now. Lloyd let go and stood up. Cole looked at himself and then back at Lloyd.

"What was that?" He whispered, almost in a hiss. Lloyd sucked in his teeth when he felt another hand leave his body. This one was cold.

"We saw our pasts," Zane said quietly. "Lloyd has been gifted with something special,"

"Woah-oh-oh, double opposite premonitions! Cool!" Jay laughed. Getting looks from both Zane and Cole, he stopped. "I mean, no pun intended,"

"Well, what did you guys see?" Kai said after a minute of silence.

"I fell off a balcony during an earthquake and got impaled," Cole said glumly. "What 'bout you, Zane?"

Zane looked down at Lloyd and gave him a smile.

"I was on my own after my father had died, so I roamed the known streets alone. An orphan if you will. During that time, there was a terrible blizzard and I saved a young woman by the name of Pixal from falling into a frozen lake when we walked across it. I remember grabbing her arm and pushing her in front of myself. I drowned shortly after that," Zane chuckled. Lloyd didn't know if he was fond of the memory or not. " The last thing I had said was 'Go on, I'd rather change someone's life for the better than mine', It wasn't anything special, just a simple act of kindness,"

Zane's eyes were an icy blue.

"Yeah, an act of kindness that got you killed, Mr. Gentleman," Cole teased. "'Sides, we gotta owe it all to Lloyd, he's the one that helped us realize that we're all heroes,"

"So, you're not mad?" Lloyd mumbled under his breath.

"Mad!? You've got to be kidding me!" Kai grabbed his shoulders. "Lloyd, we're ecstatic that you did this to us, we finally know who we are! And that's like, the greatest thing ever!"

Lloyd fumbled with his fingers.

"If you're really not mad at me, then, can we play another of round of Uno?"

"Sure, only of if you play nice and don't try any funny business, y'know, playing those evil cards of yours,"

Kai was shuffling cards, Cole re-reading the rules, Jay and Zane were mesmerized by Kai's card skills.

"I can't make any promises," Lloyd said as Kai put down another seven cards in front of the others.

Letting Lloyd go first since he was the 'youngest' was a big mistake amongst the four older ghosts because Lloyd pulled out a wild card again.

"Green!"

They groaned.

* * *

"I asked if them if they would come and visit here, but I don't think they're coming," Lloyd finished his story.

"Wait, that's it!?" Lloyd heard someone say. "Why would you leave us on a cliffhanger, Lloyd!?"

"Yeah, I wanna hear more!"

"What happened after Uno?"

"I like Kai, he sounds awesome!"

"No way, Jay is the way to go, the guy blows out his brains, how cool is that!?"

In the back, Nya was quiet.

"That sounds like you made it up," Nya said. Lloyd felt hurt, she was still grieving over her brother. Nya buried her head in her hands.

"Nya-" Lloyd started to say when the room had gotten colder, four ghosts phased through the back wall.

They did make it!

Jay held up a finger to shush him before walking over to a small girl's desk and blew on her desk. Then pencil rolled and she stared wide-eyed.

"Guys, my pencil just moved!" She gasped.

"Are you sure that you didn't touch it?" Lloyd played along with her, even though he knew what happened.

"No, my hands weren't even on my desk!"

"That was Jay, he likes messing with people," Lloyd answered. Beside him, a blue marker had floated above its perch and started to write. The King of Ghost Stories screamed, Lloyd laughed harder than he should have.

"Thanks for ratting me out, Lloyd," The board said with an angry face at the end. Lloyd stuck his tongue out.

"You deserved it, Jay,"

Soon enough, other students started to complain about someone 'messing with them' like Jay was doing now, or better yet, their homework that they hadn't done was finished and correct by their standards from Zane. Random drawings were drawn of Uno cards and Cole lifting the other three ghosts like they were nothing. The entire class was chaos and still, Nya kept her head down.

Kai put his hand to his ear and whispered.

Lloyd nodded.

Tapping Nya's desk, Nya sighed and looked at him, puffy eyes red from crying. Kai gave him a nod.

"Nya, Kai says hi and that he misses you,"

"No, he doesn't," Nya decided. "He's dead,"

"In the flesh, yeah, but," Kai put a hand to her cheek. "I'm always here, sis,"

"I wish you would've come with me instead of being so selfless,"

"I know, I do too, all the time,"

"I miss you,"

Lloyd backed up a little, to leave them to themselves.

"I miss you too,"

* * *

Afterschool, Lloyd met up with his teacher.

"Can we play Uno from now on?" Lloyd suggested.

"No, now go home, " He replied with a smirk.

In the distance, Lloyd was sure that Kai, Zane, Jay, and Cole were laughing at him.

Later, Lloyd had won Uno once more.

* * *

 **Up Next:**

Kids Make Terrible Villains


	11. Cookies, Milk, and a Broom

**I was gonna go write Kids Make Terrible Villains but then realization hit me, and oh boy, you guys, where do I start? Well, first, it's almost Christmas and I really need to live up to this story's name (it's Stocking Full of Cole for crying out loud!) anyways, enjoy this while you guys take a break from the angst 'cause it's time to get festive! (Oh FYI, this is set during S2, when Lloyd had just turned into a teenager) (Also, there's a reference to Deadpool in this lmao)**

* * *

 _"Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas, young man!" The Donation Santa waved Jay a goodbye as he put a couple of pennies in the donation box. Every year, he and Edna went into Ninjago City to the mall to look for presents that Jay had on his 'Christmas Wish List'. Holding her hand, the nine-year-old giggled at Santa ringing his bell again. "Merry Christmas, sir! Merry Christmas, ma'am! Thank you for your service!"_

 _Most kids Jay's age believed that the great Jolly Saint Nick was real, that wasn't the case for him, he knew that his parents were the ones to buy him presents. Jay loved the concept of Santa Claus though, a man who, if you fed him milk and cookies, brought you presents and filled your stocking with candies and toys. Jay still laughed at the idea that Santa Claus was able to go through a chimney, or even enter houses that had none!_

 _Visiting the Mall Santa was no different, Jay was going to tell him that he wanted that new Fritz Donnegan vs. the Imperial Sludge set. The set was new and it came out just in time for the holidays. It was supposed to be buildable and for kids over twelve because of choking hazards, but that didn't matter, it was Christmas and Jay was very much mature!_

 _"Have you picked out any place you wanted to check out today, Jay?" Edna asked him once they made their way inside. "Remember, we have all day while your father is at work,"_

 _Jay's face immediately lit up. Ed, his father, was a toy maker. Of course, Jay could have all the toys he wanted, but no, he donated them to local orphanages and charities and expected nothing in return. Jay was grateful for what he already had, loving parents and a roof over his head, and a plate of cookies waiting for him at home._

 _"Can we go to Charlie's Candy Store!?" Jay practically shouted, earning a few stares from other passerbys._

 _"I wish we could dear, but the mall just opened, we'll have to wait," Edna chuckled sadly. Jay frowned as he remembered that it was ten in the morning. Charlie's wouldn't be open for another hour._

 _"Don't look so glum, dear," Edna said. "We can still find things from your wishlist before all of those crazies get here,"_

 _She was right, after and on the day of Black Friday, things have gotten hectic. Luckily, no one but the Walkers knew of this special discount they have since Edna did, in fact, also works part-time at the mall._

 _"Okay, but we gotta go into the Coliseum of Comics first, 'cause I wanna see if they got that new Lady Killer issue," Jay suggested. Edna smiled and let her son lead._

* * *

 _On the way, Jay talked the entire time, explaining the plot of Lady Killer and how he was a mercenary, how he killed the 'bad' people in revenge for killing his wife and making him repulsive after testing a 'cure' on him for an underlying disease. One might've asked Edna why she would let her son, a nine-year-old, read something so mature, she understood it was a bit...much, but Jay was very understanding of its content. He was a growing boy._

 _In bold red letters, the establishment before him spelled: Coliseum of Comics. It was nothing like Doomsday Comixs, but it does its job well, Jay went there all the time. And if Jay had friends (if he weren't homeschooled), they'd hang out there too. Life-size cutouts were placed around the store but Jay ran straight to the counter completely ignoring them, where the owner of the store, wore an ugly sweater that had said: Gangsta Wrapper._

 _"Jay, my little dude, what's up?" The owner held out her hand for Jay to fist bump. Jay gladly did so._

 _"I'm excited for Christmas, Bow! I'm gonna tell Santa what I want!" Jay stepped up on his toes to glance over the counter._

 _"I thought you didn't believe in Santa Claus?" The owner, Bow, said, and then bent down to pick up the few gift cards Jay had knocked over on the floor. Jay made a noise in agreement._

 _"I don't, I just like talking to him,"_

 _"Where's the fun in that, kiddo? I still believe in him,"_

 _Jay gaped at her words._

 _"No way!"_

 _"Yes, way!" She laughed. "I remember when I was ten, just like you, I went downstairs at midnight and I saw my mom and Santa Claus," Bow paused for dramatic effect. "Holding hands and kissing under the mistletoe!"_

 _"Ew!" Jay made a face in disgust and pulled down his blue pom-pom beanie to keep the images out of his mind. The woman tugged at his hat._

 _"Hey, I'm just messing with you," Jay sighed in relief. "There are new Lady Killer issues out, and if you want, I can put it on hold for you if you'd like."_

 _"That'd be great, Bow, we'd appreciate it," Edna said from behind just as Jay ran off to find the issue. Bow smiled as Edna walked off to find her son._

* * *

 _It was now a quarter to twelve and Jay had practically explored the entire store, toy stores, that is. Now, they were just coming from the candy shop Jay had been wanting to go to. Christmas songs were playing overhead and the smell of warm cookies came from a certain someone._

 _And there it was, Jay's worst enemy._

 _"There's already a line!" Jay held onto his candy bag when he threw his hands up. "I don't wanna wait that long! The new Starfarer Christmas special is gonna be on soon!"_

 _"Jay, it's only eleven fifty-five now," Edna reassured him while looking for her watch. "Did you forget to record it?"_

 _"No," Jay looked down. "But it's still not the same,"_

 _Jay and Edna went into a clothing store and had gotten a new scarf for Ed as well as a new pair of gloves. In a shoe store, Jay wanted to pick out a pair of shoes for his mother, so he told her to stay outside while he 'shopped'. After paying, Jay went back out only to see Edna and another Mall Santa and what seemed to be...flirting? Jay couldn't believe it._

 _That Santa was talking to his mom. His mom, the one who was already married to his dad._

 _"Hey! Get away from my mom, weirdo!" Jay dropped his bag and ran to his mother, and pushed the Santa out of the way. Edna only laughed. "Mom, this isn't funny!"_

 _"Jay, it's okay, it's only-" Edna was cut off when a man in another Santa suit tapped the other's shoulder._

 _"You're up, buddy," He said. Jay noticed that he was awfully skinny._

 _"Ho ho ho," The flirting Santa chuckled. "It seems that Santa must go, until we meet again, my friend," He smiled as he kissed Edna's hand in which Jay has swatted it away. "Merry Christmas to you too, Jay,"_

 _"I-huh!?" Jay stood shocked, confused, angry. There was no telling what his current emotion was at the moment. Glancing at his mother, Jay gasped. "How did he know my name!?"_

 _"I was going to tell you, sweetheart," Edna smiled sweetly. "That was the real Santa Claus, he's a nice fellow once you get to know him,"_

 _Jay thought for a minute._

 _"But, he was flirting with you,"_

 _"That was just his way of saying 'Happy Holidays',"_

 _Jay crossed his arms in disbelief._

 _"If I see the Old Fat Man again, I'm gonna kick down his Gingerbread house!"_

 _"Jay, please don't,"_

 _Jay didn't make any promises after that._

 _Jay had attacked the mall Santa once he had gotten on his lap in pure anger. He fought long enough for the mall's fun police and Edna herself to pull him off. Edna immediately apologized for Jay's behavior and was quick to leave the mall. Jay got scolded afterwards._

 _When they had gotten back to their trailer, Jay was quick to dump his presents into his room and run out into the 'living room', which was actually the kitchen with a TV right next to it. Jay grabbed himself a plate of cookies, wrapped himself in blankets and got started to watch his show. Meanwhile, Ed had just come home from work with a few bite marks on his arm and a couple of bruises._

 _Jay never took notice._

* * *

 _That night, Christmas Eve, Jay left cookies and milk out for the 'Santa' and went to bed only to stare at the ceiling. That was the real Santa Claus he had beaten up earlier, and he thought he wasn't real. Now he was on the Naughty List forever and he was going to get no presents for the rest of his life. It was funny because Santa sounded suspiciously like his father._

 _Jay opened his eyes when he heard a noise._

 _"Oh, you didn't have to do that,"_

 _"Nonsense, sugarplum. It's for Jay, I know that he didn't mean to hurt me,"_

 _Sugarplum? Only his dad called his mom that._

 _"Ho ho ho!"_

 _And that laugh..._

 _"No! I thought I told that creep to stay away!" Jay hissed as he scrambled himself out of bed and put on his monster-themed slippers. Before he opened the door, he looked around his room for a weapon to hopefully ward off the Cookies-and-Milkman away from his home. Jay found a broom._

 _Carefully making his way to the front door, Jay had to blink twice. Underneath the mistletoe, Santa was holding mother, caressing her cheek. Jay's grip on his broom tightened._

 _They had kissed._

 _"That's it, Kris Kringle!" Jay shouted, interrupting the two in their short second of romance. "Why candy can't you just stay away from my mom!?"_

 _"Jay, wait-" Santa snorted at his pun._

 _Jay swung his broom, hitting Santa in the face, knocking old man down. Jay whacked him as he tried to crawl towards the door, dust fell off the broom as Jay screamed. Edna grabbed his arms just as Santa unlocked the door._

 _"Jay, stop! That's your father!" Edna made him look into her eyes. Jay glared. Santa and Edna gave each other looks in a sworn secrecy._

 _"I'm related to Santa Claus!?" Jay had yelled at last. The two sighed in relief. Jay turned around to face Santa, just as he ran out the door. "If you ever come back here, I'll deck the halls with your face!" He threw his broom just as Santa turned the corner._

 _Jay never saw the infamous Santa Claus again._

 _It was a mystery to him as of how he'd gotten everything on his Christmas Wish List._

* * *

"And under the mistletoe, Santa kissed her! Can you believe that!?" Jay finished his story and took a sip of his hot chocolate before speaking again. "He even cheated on his own wife!"

"You still believe that Santa Claus is real?" Cole looked up from his cooking while Zane was there to monitor him. "You tell the exact same story every year."

"I dunno you guys," Kai laughed. "I'm starting to think that Jay's telling the truth,"

"Says the guy who's afraid of Gingerbread Men and Elves," Cole grinned.

"You shut it, Sleigh Bells!" Kai pointed a finger at him.

"That was one time, Mariah Carey!"

"I agree with Cole," Nya leaned against the couch. "You're a teenager, and we all know that Santa Claus isn't real."

"I know what I saw, Nya," Jay deadpanned and continue to drink. "And besides, even Lloyd knows that Santa is real and that he's a real lady swooner,"

"That's because Lloyd still has the mind of a child, you, my friend, do not," Nya teased.

Jay rolled his eyes and got up from the couch and walked down the hall. Something smelled of warmth and it wasn't Cole's cookies. Walking past Lloyd covered in Christmas lights trying to set them up, he made his way into the control room.

There was that familiar laugh again.

"Ho ho holly jolly-no," The intruder said. "Have a holly jolly-"

Jay tensed.

He was back already!

It wasn't even midnight yet!

Jay silently tiptoed to the back wall where it was dark and looked for supplies. He wasn't getting away that easily. Jay found another broom.

Just as he turned to face him. Jay hit the end of the broom to his face, knocking him out cold. Dragging Santa down the hall by his heels, Jay made sure he was careful to step over the tangled Christmas lights.

"Guys, guess who made it to the party?"

Everyone turned their heads at Jay's pride.

"Jay! Why would you kill Santa Claus!?" Lloyd shouted as soon as he untangled himself. "There's no wonder why you're on the Naughty List this year!"

"I didn't kill him, Lloyd," Jay said to the younger teen. "He's alive, I knocked him out."

"Jokes on you, that's not the real Santa," Cole stifled a laugh.

"Yes, we asked Darreth to dress as Santa to surprise Lloyd," Zane said. Jay started, baffled. He let go of Darreth's ankles and furrowed his eyebrows in concentration.

"I was practicing my Santa voice and you just ruined it," Darreth sat up and grumbled.

"And besides, everyone knows that Santa isn't-" Cole stopped talking once he and Kai locked each other's eyes while looking to Lloyd. "Isn't…"

'Say it' Kai mouthed. 'I dare you'.

'Isn't...isn't, um,"

"Isn't what?" Lloyd asked, unsure of the rising tension between the two. Cole looked to Zane, Nya, and Jay for help. None out of three decided to help the poor teen.

Cole closed his mouth, as he had nothing.

"He isn't just going to sit and wait around for you to finish your donations for those kids, Lloyd. You and Sleigh Bells should be going." Zane smirked. Cole muttered a thank you before pushing Lloyd out the door.

"Jack Frost's right, those presents ain't gonna wrap themselves!"

"So, Gingerbread Man," Kai helped Darreth stand up and pet his back in a good effort. Jay still held the broom in his hand, wondering what had gotten into him. Maybe the present-bringer wasn't real and Jay's past experience with him just proved of his jealousy. "Are you going to apologize to your father this year?"

"Not a chance! The man kissed my mom, and there's no way that he'll live that down!" Darreth and Kai exchanged glances of disappointment. "One of these days, I'm going to go hunt him down and hang him a mistletoe to Rudolph's butt!"

"Has he always been this Claustrophobic?" Darreth said to Kai. He laughed at the other's reaction next.

"That was a bad pun and you know it!"

If Jay learned anything from that Lady Killer issue he's read those years ago, it's that when you're planning a revenge, always be aware of your target's routines. Santa Claus was going to visit every house, city, town, and village at midnight, unfortunately for him, Jay was a ninja, and he'd be easily caught. Jay had to laugh.

"Have a Holly Jolly Christmas, Santa," He whispered under his breath and took a bite of Cole's cookie before grimacing. "Ugh, these are disgusting."

* * *

 **Up Next:**

Jingle All the Way

 **Fun Fact of the Day: My Christmas Sweater actually says: Gangsta Wrapper!**


	12. Rhyming, 4th-Walls, and Pies, oh my!

**This is probably the worst story I've ever written you guys, I'm not even gonna lie.**

 **But y'know, it's almost Christmas and I'm in the spirit** **:(**

 **Proceed if you'd like.**

* * *

 _'Twas the Night Before Christmas_

 _And all throughout the Bounty_

 _Not a body was stirring_

 _Not even little Lloyd Garmadon_

 _Oh, and what's this?_

 _Who is that I see?_

 _It's little Lloyd Garmadon frustrated and steaming_

 _He has gotten out of bed, never once resting his head_

 _This thought of Christmas has filled him with dread_

 _"I've never once celebrated Christmas, it just isn't fair," Little Lloyd Garmadon said and ran his fingers through his hair. "Christmas is stupid, so why should I care?"_

 _Well, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year_

 _It's full of goodies and holiday cheer_

 _It's totally worth trying just once this year-_

 _"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Lloyd told the narrator to stop. "Leave me alone, don't be a showoff!"_

 _Yeesh, someone's a grouchy Grinch_

 _I hope he finds coal in his stocking, that little sh-_

 _"Hey!"_

 _(Whatever-ahem)_

 _Down through the hall and into the kitchen_

 _Lloyd took out Zane's Chocolate Pie that he had baked for Christmas_

 _"He won't mind if eat this amazing pastry! Because it looks likes it's very tasty!" Lloyd shouted and licked his lips. The pie was there, right in his grips._

 _Bite by bite, Lloyd ate the pie_

 _But little did he know that someone was nearby_

 _"Do you hear that? Someone's in the kitchen!" said Jay as he clutched a stuffed kitten._

 _"Indeed, an intruder is there," Zane mumbled to him in hopes to calm. "I do hope that they know that they do not belong here."_

 _Walking to the kitchen, went Zane and Jay_

 _To see who was eating the pie before Christmas Day_

 _Turning on the lights and staring in shock_

 _There was little Lloyd Garmadon just about to take off_

 _"What happened in here?!" Zane exclaimed with his hands on his hips._

 _"I'd like to know too!" Jay said with a sneer._

 _Lloyd looked down, guilty as can be_

 _As he just made a mistake, one that will not let him go him free_

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait! You've got it all wrong! That's not what happened!" Lloyd punched Kai in the arm. The latter winced at the pain. "I'm not even a ninja yet! I'm not that sneaky!"

"Yeah, since when did I even have a stuffed animal?" Jay laughed nervously.

Zane scoffed.

"Well, someone must have eaten my pie last night. I did not bake it just for you to get your grubby hands on it!" Zane crossed his arms. Lloyd's jaw hung open at the statement.

"Hey, just because I have a really bad sweet tooth doesn't make me an automatic culprit!" The ninja-in-training argued. The remaining gave him doubtful looks. Lloyd sunk his shoulders blew a raspberry. "Have any of you seen Cole?"

None of the three ninjas said anything for a minute as neither of them had seen Cole all morning. Usually, Cole was up after Jay and Kai, but that wasn't the case for today. The last any of them had seen Cole was before bed-wait a minute.

"That sly dog!" Kai shot up from his seat.

"Aha! What did I tell you!?" Lloyd pointed at him. Kai rolled his eyes and lifted the younger over his shoulder.

"Still doesn't excuse you for being Cole's accomplice, little dude," Kai smiled while Lloyd banged his fists on his back.

Cole was in the training room, spinning and kicking a punching bag. There were no crumbs to be found. Cole gave them a smile once he had spotted them.

"Hey guys, what's-" He was stopped abruptly when Jay held his nunchucks that emitted a shock of electricity.

"Shut it, you dirty pie eater!" Jay accused him.

"Woah there, motormouth," Cole held up his hands. "I have no idea what you're talking about,"

"I have this Jay," Zane interrupted. He then pointed to the 'suspect'. "Tell us why you ate my pie in the early hours of Christmas Day, have you no sense of common decency?"

Cole opened his mouth to question the complaints held against him.

"Okay first of all," Cole started. "What pie are you guys talking about? And why didn't you tell me?"

"Ah, well that checks out. He's innocent," Jay said.

Kai put Lloyd down but only to have him kick his leg. He sighed and threw Lloyd over his shoulder once more. "How do we know that we can trust him though?"

"No, I'm serious, guys," Cole lifted a weight above his head. "As much as I love food, I think that I can wait to eat something good, unlike a certain someone,"

"Quit patronizing me!" Lloyd huffed.

The four ninjas and the little one all looked to each other, unsure of what to say to one another-

"Can you stop rhyming for ONE second!" Jay shouted at the narrator of this story. The narrator shrugged and ignored this Master of Lightning. Ugh god, this story is definitely not worth re-writing. "Shut up!"

Fine, fine.

The problem was that if Lloyd didn't do it, neither did Cole, Jay, or Kai...then, who was the real culprit? It only left Nya and Sensei Wu. Wu immediately canceled out because the old man was on nothing but tea and noodles perhaps. But Nya also had a sweet tooth it seemed.

And speaking of Nya, in three...two...one…

"Hey guys," Nya walked in, a paper plate and a fork in hand. "You totally missed out on this amazing pie I found in the fridge this morning!"

Ah yep, Nya was the eater of the pie. No one had suspected it anyway. In fact, no one had noticed the trail of crumbs that led to her room.

It was Nya's fault that Christmas was now ruined.

Haha, I hated writing this.

Merry Christmas you guys.

* * *

 **JK, I love Nya.**


	13. Kids Make Terrible Villains

**"Well yeah, I know, that," Kai leaned back. "It's just that, this is Lloyd we're talking about. Who knows how they raised him? Wait, wait," Kai sat back up, grabbing his sister's attention. "You know how in the movie the Incredibles, where, if Jack Jack is mad he turns into that monster thing?"**

 **"You think that Lloyd will go full Oni if he ever gets mad?" Nya hinted. Kai shrugged.**

* * *

 **Haha, babies are so freaking hilarious :D (Bout time that I've updated lmao guys, sorry to leave y'all hanging like that) (Also, also, prepare for some Big!Bro Kai because Kai is great and I love him)**

* * *

Okay, so, Kai actually had no idea how he ended up with a toddler in his arms, and if anyone asked, he would probably not be able to give a straightforward answer. All-in-all, he can say that it was Lloyd's fault. If he was ever questioned on who the toddler was and where the heck the Green Ninja was, Kai would be able to give you that answer:

The child was the Green Ninja.

In his defense, he should've seen it coming, though Lloyd was somewhat predictable (just as he was), this situation was very much unpredictable. Look, if you paid for your gosh darn ice cream at the ice cream truck only to get ambushed by a familiar villain, something is bound to happen eventually. Turns out that the ice cream _Lloyd_ paid for, was created by no one other than, that's right, Magic Bones.

Kai had always hated that guy er-skeleton.

It's funny because right after the fight (could he even call it a fight?) was when Lloyd took one bite out of the Green Ninja-themed ice cream and immediately poofed into a toddler. (What kind of monster just bites ice cream? Sure, the kid wasn't even human, but he sure carries some big Oni energy).

Kai was lucky enough to not be held hostage by the media. Like, what was he even supposed to say? Better yet, how was he supposed to explain to the _ninja_ how and why their leader is a literal baby!? Nevermind that now, he had to figure out how to get past the, um, fangirls.

Currently, he was at Skylor's, stress-eating. (Yes, he stress-eats, shut up). In hindsight, Cole should be doing this, but Cole isn't here, isn't he?

"Okay, Lloyd, let's go through this one more time, please," Kai begged to the two-year-old, assuming that he was two-years-old. "My name is Kai, here, let me spell it out, Kuh-Ayh."

"Kat!" Lloyd replied happily. Right, as if he could possibly understand him. "Kitty Kat!"

"Yeah, you're getting close there, buddy," Kai ruffled his younger brother's hair. (Thank Lloyd's grandfather for those restaurant baby seats). Lloyd giggled and went back to trying to eat those dumplings Skylor put out for him.

In all honesty, Kai would be lying if he told you that he didn't find Lloyd adorable. Messy hair from a bad haircut, a toothy smile, pale skin with little freckles, those freakishly adorable red eyes of his. Seriously, how did this baby suddenly become the Green Ninja?

How did Lloyd ever live with himself?

"Kitty Kat!" Lloyd called out to him. "Look! Darkie!"

Lloyd held up a placemat that was colored with the crayons he was given. (Kai really needed to thank Skylor for helping him). The picture was drawn of a shadow that looked like Lord Garmadon. Kai had to admit that he was impressed, Lloyd was surprisingly good at art.

"That looks amazing, hey, maybe you'll even surpass Jay and Cole one day." The Fire Ninja smiled. Thinking about it now, he wasn't quite sure as of how he was going to get Lloyd back to his normal self again, especially since he had that stupid Tomorrow's Tea incident a couple of years back.

"Bluejay! Troll!"

Kai burst into laughter, loud enough for Lloyd, Skylor, and the remaining patrons to give him a confused look. This kid was never going to get anyone's name right, especially since the older version of him is terrible at saying "Dragons" and "Morro", Kai notices these things. Lloyd's speech and the way he says things is one of the most funniest things to ever come out of him.

"Looks like someone is having a good time with their baby brother," Skylor teased him, collecting the empty plates.

Kai snorted and sat up.

"That was a bad pun and you know it, Sky," He reached for the cleaning wipes. "But, thanks for the food,"

"Don't mention it, Kitty Kat," The Master of Amber nodded.

"Pretty!" Lloyd pointed to Kai and led it to Skylor.

"Why thank you, Green Bean,!" Skylor winked at him, and of course, Lloyd giggled again.

Kai smirked and got up from the table, unbuckling Lloyd from the baby seat (and gushing at the boy's outstretched hands). Resting Lloyd on his hips, Kai pulled out a tip and set it on the table.

"Alright, little bro, now what do we say to pretty ladies when we leave?" Kai raised an eyebrow at the toddler. Skylor leaned on her broom.

"Bye, Sike!" Lloyd waved.

Kai mentally facepalmed as Skylor broke into laughter.

* * *

Now at the Bounty, Kai was hesitant to get inside and tell the whole team what happened to Lloyd. The only person who was inside was Nya, who'd informed him that the rest of the ninja had gone to help out at a local library while he and Lloyd had went out for a "Bro's day". So, she wasn't necessarily surprised to say the least that the little toddler was indeed the Oni-Dragon hybrid.

"I have no idea how to take care of this kid, Nya," Kai finally said as he sat on the couch. Lloyd was in front of him, binge-watching an unhealthy amount of Starfarer.

"Yes you do," Nya corrected him. "You raised me,"

"Well yeah, I know, _that_ ," Kai leaned back. "It's just that, this is Lloyd we're talking about. Who knows how they raised him? Wait, wait," Kai sat back up, grabbing his sister's attention. "You know how in the movie the Incredibles, where, if Jack Jack is mad he turns into that monster thing?"

"You think that Lloyd will go full Oni if he ever gets mad?" Nya hinted. Kai shrugged.

"I dunno, it could happen." He stretched, feeling his joints pop from behind. "Before I forget, I taught Lloyd a new trick,"

"Kai, he's not a dog," His sister interjected.

"Oh, I know, but watch. Hey, Green Bean Machine!" Kai called out to the toddler. Lloyd turned around. "Say, Cole,"

"Troll!" Lloyd shouted.

Kai could see his sister's face from the corner of his eyes. He stood up and picked up Lloyd in the process.

"And now, say, Jay,"

"Bluejay!"

"Good job, Luh-Lloyd!"

Nya tried to stifle her laughter, indicating that Kai was doing a good job at making her laugh.

"Alright, now say my name,"

"Kitty Kat!"

(Nya snorted loudly this time).

Kai put on his best announcer's voice.

"But wait! There's more! You know this one, Lloyd, say, Nya!"

"Meow!"

Nya stopped laughing and got up.

"Okay, I'm done-"

"No! Stay!" Lloyd stopped her with his squeaky voice. Nya sighed and smiled at him. Kai knew that she couldn't resist her little brother.

"Only for you," Nya said. She then glared at her older brother. "Not for your ringleader,"

Kai stuck his tongue out at her.

"Alright, just as we practiced, say, Zane,"

"Zane,"

Kai swore that he was going to choke when Lloyd just said the Ice Ninja's name as casually as he could flirt. Kai could only stare into those red eyes and just gape as Nya mumbled: "I've had enough of this kid" and left them. Lloyd was a natural born traitor.

Lloyd yawned and threw his arms over Kai's shoulders, initiating every toddler's worst nightmare, sleepiness. Yeah, they kinda had a long day anyways, against Kai's pleas, there were fangirls wondering why the Fire Ninja was carrying around a tiny version of the Green Ninja and Gale Gossip trying to interview him before he summoned his elemental dragon and flew away.

Yeah, they were both tired.

Especially since _one_ of them bought ice cream from a magic skeleton that turned said _one_ into a child.

"Alright, kiddo, time for a nap," Kai mumbled and let out his own yawn. Lloyd made a hum of agreement. "Couch or bed?"

Lloyd only blinked slowly at him and let his head fall.

"Couch, it is then," Kai noted.

Kai put Lloyd back down on the couch and walked inside of his room to pull out a blanket. Entering Lloyd's room, he was met was a neatly fixed one (compared to his) and a stuffed white owl that Kai had sent for Lloyd's birthday during the one-year gap. Lloyd named it Snowy.

Today was the perfect opportunity to blackmail Lloyd.

"Hey, guess who I got?" Kai nudged Lloyd's barefoot when he arrived at the couch again. Lloyd opened an eye sleepily and clutched his stuffed animal. Kai lifted him up and laid down the couch, placing Lloyd on top of him.

"Kitty Kat tell story?" Lloyd grinned tiredly.

"Only if you go to sleep," Kai huffed. Lloyd nodded and lay his head on his brother's chest. Kai put an arm around him and stared at the ceiling. "Once upon a time, there was a young boy in green-"

Just like that, Lloyd was asleep.

"Haha, okay," Kai closed his eyes and let his drowsiness take over.

* * *

Kai felt dead. Or like, he was supporting dead weight. Kai's eyes snapped open and immediately he was met with a mop of blonde hair. Soft sounds of breathing startled him.

How long had he'd been sleeping?

"Wh-" Kai tried sitting up and groaned when he was unable to move.

Well, it looks like the baby effects had worn off on Lloyd.

"Hey, Green Bean Machine," Kai shook Lloyd's body in hopes of waking him up. Lloyd was still attached to him as a koala would. Seems like he was now stuck here...possibly forever...or until the boy decided to wake up.

The perks of being the older brother he guessed. Whatever, at least no one is home yet-

"Hey, losers! We're back!" Jay's voice was loud and proud. And still, Lloyd continued to sleep.

Kai's going to get teased and laughed at.

Kai finally came to a conclusion:

Lloyd is a great villain because he ruined Kai's reputation (and dignity and ego).

There was no escape.

* * *

 **Up Next:** Off Limits


	14. Off Limits

**Harumi looked at the mural in front of her. It had all four Masters of Creation and the Green Ninja in the middle, they were all smiling, and to no one's surprise, they looked exactly like the five boys that were missing. They were all painted in a group hug and the color of their gi was their elements.**

 **"Lloyd would always gush about this picture and how excited he was that he looked exactly like the Green Ninja, conveniently named Lloyd Garmadon as well," Misako said.**

* * *

 **This was an idea I had burning in my head months ago...and so, prepare for a lot of flashback scenes and suspense. I'm not very good in either of those fields but, I guess I'll try! If you don't understand what's going on or it's too confusing, I'd be happy to explain in PM**

* * *

 _Harumi could only hold her mouth wide-open when she was shown the chambers holding all five of them, dressed in those color-coded gi, and their faces...their faces. They were terrified. The chambers were cryogenically frozen, coated in gold liquid. Harumi knew them._

 _All five of them were presumed dead, five kidnappings that happened on the exact same date for five years, January 14th. It was clear to her that the kidnapper had an obsession with the five of these boys, as they had thought that they were the reincarnations of the four elemental Masters of Creation and the Golden Savior._

 _Harumi felt herself walking closer to the chambers, just staring at them. The one that caught her attention was the last teen that went missing, Lloyd Garmadon, the Green Ninja, his mouth was agape, a fist that was caught trying to break the glass (he only managed to make a few cracks), his face had a scared expression. Bubbles were frozen in the liquid coming from his mouth. Harumi forced her eyes to look away._

 _Kai Smith, the presumed reincarnation of the Master of Fire was who she looked at next. Kai was turned upside-down, his foot on the top of the chamber, his hands on both sides of it, and a determined expression on his face. Zane Julien, Master of Ice, his arms outstretched towards the top, his face caught in mid-scream. Jay Walker, Master of Lightning, the teen's face was pressed against the glass, his eyes wide with fear. Cole Brookstone, Master of Earth, both legs were presumably supposed to be kicking against the glass, but he was frozen before he could break it._

 _Harumi felt like collapsing._

* * *

High school is weird, different people, different cliques, but, opposites attract. Most people still tried to rack their brains around the idea that the black belt martial artist emo and the mayor's daughter could ever be friends.

Speaking of strange, from her perspective, Harumi figured that Ninjago City should be the "Capital of Local High School Kidnappings". The was the fifth kidnapping on the exact same day as the others, January 14th, the fifth one in a row. As far as she knew, the kidnappings had a pattern, they always took the new students, and she wasn't sure if it was a coincidence or not, but, none of them spoke the city's native tongue.

Rumor has it that Lloyd Garmadon, the fifth and latest missing, Morro (her lifelong best friend's) cousin was the last one. That's when Harumi started to notice something, every time someone was taken, the kidnapper left a single note with a symbol of an element belonging to the Elemental Masters of Spinjitzu (a boring bedtime story if you asked her).

For the first couple of weeks when Lloyd had arrived, Morro was Lloyd's translator until the school found an official one. Since Lloyd could not speak the city's language, some girls and guys often took this opportunity to flirt with him when he was alone, making the other completely oblivious to their intentions.

Lloyd Garmadon went missing last year. He was only seventeen.

Morro was distraught, though he and Lloyd weren't exactly close as close gets, Morro would really go all the way just to protect him from any danger.

The world hasn't been exactly kind to their family.

* * *

 _"You should see this," Morro nudged her. In his hands, were papers-files that dated back to January 14th, 2013 and ended January 14, 2018. "Whoever kidnapped them, clearly knew what they were doing,"_

 _"Talk about being a stalker," Harumi laughed quietly, her mind was still torn at the thought of the five teenagers in front of her. "What does it say?"_

 _"First one's about Zane, it says here that Zane has an immunity to cold temperatures and bares prosthetic limbs from a car accident he had gotten in when he was younger," Morro replied. "The Ice Ninja is incapable of understanding the common language but he speaks in broken sentences, assuming that he has had some training in speech. The Ice Ninja seems well aware of his Nindroid past. Wait, Nindroid?" Morro looked up._

 _Harumi looked back to Zane, he had to be the first one kidnapped, his cyan eyes told stories and not the good kind. Zane was tall and had white hair that stood up on all ends in a flattop-type style. She thought back to the statue of the legends, the Ice Ninja wore all white and was emitting ice shards from his hands. The cold and calculated Nindroid._

 _"Who's next?" Breathed the mayor's daughter._

* * *

Ninjago High School was full of surprises, and it never compared to going to the Museum of History, especially on the anniversary five of their students went missing.

The school buses pulled up into the parking lot and the Senior class poured out. Harumi has been there so many times that it wasn't even funny anymore when your parents are Ninjago History enthusiasts, there's not much you could do to prevent them from visiting.

"Alright, you will be split into two sections according to your preferences," A woman with greyed hair and orange glasses met them, in truth, she looked to be more of an archaeologist or historian instead of a tour guide. "Students who prefer to join a tour guide can meet me by the entrance, and students who prefer to view the exhibits alone can go inside and explore to their heart's content,"

And as if almost on cue, half of the Senior class ran off inside, while the stragglers stayed behind.

"It's your call, Rumi," Morro shrugged uncaringly. "I mean, they've opened up a new exhibit regarding the Elemental Masters, it'd be nice to experience something new for once in our pathetic lives,"

Morro's sense of trying to deal with guilt a year later wasn't that good of a coping mechanism.

"Let's go inside," Harumi answered. "I want to check out the exhibit,"

Morro put out his hands to her to guide them inside.

* * *

 _"Jay's next," Morro handed her the paper relating to Jay. "Do you want to read? Or, I can if you don't-"_

 _"Let me see it," She said and skimmed over it. "Jay was struck by lightning when he was a kid and was in a coma for a few weeks, during that time, Jay emitted strong static electricity from his body, which major delays in his surgery. Jay is capable of understanding the common language but is, of course, unable to speak it." Harumi still couldn't bring herself to wonder how this stalker got this information._

 _She continued._

 _"The Lightning Master was known for his fast-talk and quick jokes, which Jay expressed when I had found him."_

 _Looking at Jay's chamber, he was more scared than cheerful, Harumi highly doubted that he would even think about making a joke. Jay's freckles, bright blue eyes, and curly brown hair, however, made him look childish. The statue of the Lightning Ninja had him reaching out towards the viewer, blue lightning bolts bolting forward. The joker whose mouth is as fast as lightning._

* * *

The Museum smelled of cleaning supplies and old people, security guards stood at almost every exhibit. The gift shop was to their left and statues of Snakes and Dragons were on either side. In the middle, was a statue of the First Spinjitzu Master, the supposed creator of Ninjago. Harumi didn't believe into those childish fairytales.

To the left, a few exhibits down, was where most of the attention was pointed. Harumi assumed that it was the latest attraction.

"Welcome to Ninjago City's Museum of History!" The robotic speaker overhead announced. "Today is January 14th, 2019!"

Harumi straightened and looked to Morro who folded his arms and walked forward.

* * *

 _"Okay, okay, Kai has a high tolerance to heat and was actually involved in an explosion at his middle school, it involved fire and Kai had gone back into the school to help a teacher who got trapped. Turns out that he had come out without a single burn on him," Harumi read off the file of Kai. "Kai is knowledgeable in both languages but cannot read or write it. The Fire Ninja is a hot-head and possibly a pyromaniac, he tried to burn down my research when he was mobile."_

 _Kai, the boy that had a determined look, had a scar running down his right eye. His spiked hair looked like he took forever in the bathroom each morning, his amber eyes had a burning fire in them that if you weren't careful enough, he'd burn a hole into your face. Harumi remembered that the Fire Ninja was standing next to Green Ninja as if he was his protector, his hands were in fists that had fire around them. The hot-head who's heart is a bright as a flame, Harumi noted._

 _"Cole's after Kai, now," Morro sighed quietly. "I think we should stop-"_

 _"No!" Harumi shouted. "I mean, no, we shouldn't. I want to find out why, what gives this person to right to take five people just because of some story!"_

* * *

The Hall of Villainy was where she had found Morro, eyes wide, staring at a statue that resembled...himself. Yeah, exactly what she thought it was.

"Wow, those eyebrows are uncanny," Harumi snickered. Morro shot her a look.

"Oh shut up, Lady Gaga," He gestured towards the other statue next to him.

That was not weird at all.

"I knew that you two looked familiar when I saw your faces," The tour guide from earlier stood next to them. Harumi recognized her voice. Morro's adopted aunt, Misako. "And if you're wondering, you're looking at Princess Harumi of the Jade Palace or the Quiet One, and Morro, the Cursed Ghost who possessed the Green Ninja,"

"Hey, Misako, you knew them?" Morro laughed. Harumi punched him in the arm to which the latter winced.

"You know me, Morro," Misako chuckled. "I'm old, but I'm not a dragon."

Morro rolled his eyes.

"So, the Green Ninja, huh? I remember Lloyd's obsession over him, mainly because they looked alike," Morro smiled faintly. "And because they shared the same name."

Huh. Harumi hasn't been to the Garmadon household in over a year. Even so, she never actually got a chance to hang around Lloyd. If Lloyd was actually dead, then...Harumi felt horrible from just thinking about it.

* * *

 _"Alright, so, Cole's mom had died when he was around fourteen, then, he had gotten caught in a falling building that fractured his legs three years later," Morro sucked in his teeth. Harumi was sure that he felt the pain too. "Anyways, the Master of Earth is capable of understanding both languages as well as speaking, reading, and writing. While he was mobile, the Master of Earth had tried to smash my computer, he claimed that I had gotten the wrong teen or something of those sorts. Just like Kai, he shared the Fire Master's anger at me."_

 _Cole had dark long hair that fell to his shoulders, his deep brown eyes were closed halfway in mid-blink. Harumi remembered from the statue that he was the Master of Earth, Cole was built like a high school wrestler. His statue was shown with him raising his arms and the ground with it. The strong and steady Earth wielder._

 _"All's that left is…" Morro trailed off, he eyed the chamber holding his cousin. "Him,"_

 _"I'm going to read it," Harumi offered, taking the paper from her male counterpart. "You're tearing up,"_

 _"Fine," Morro hissed and looked. "I'm going to see what else I can find."_

* * *

Harumi looked at the mural in front of her. It had all four Masters of Creation and the Green Ninja in the middle, they were all smiling, and to no one's surprise, they looked exactly like the five boys that were missing. They were all painted in a group hug and the color of their gi was their elements.

"Lloyd would always gush about this picture and how excited he was that he looked exactly like the Green Ninja, conveniently named Lloyd Garmadon as well," Misako said.

The three of them had exited the Hall of Villainy after Morro had gotten too freaked out about the similarities of him and his predecessor and walked together to the new attraction.

"Speaking of, I know that this is kind of a touchy topic, but, um," Harumi hesitated. "Why didn't Lloyd ever speak our language?"

Misako smiled.

"Believe it or not, Lloyd does know how to speak our language, he just refuses to use it." The older woman hummed. "When he was younger, that was all he knew how to speak, read, and write because of his father's and I's...indifferent circumstances. So, it wasn't until Lloyd had started to go to school, he asked me to teach him how to speak, read, and write because he was shy about talking to the new kids. He's a good boy,"

Harumi turned back to the mural and eyed the life-sized statue in front of her presenting all five ninjas.

* * *

 _"Lloyd Garmadon was the hardest to find, however," she read off the paper. "His story is different from all of the rest. Lloyd grew up in a boarding school named Darkley's while both of his parents had...unfortunate forthcomings. After being raised there for a couple of years, Lloyd had run away around age twelve and was later found by his uncle-" Harumi looked for Morro. "Hey, is that-"_

 _"Yes, he stayed with us for a while before Wu called Misako," Morro confirmed. "Also, who names their kid P.P.C?"_

 _"It's an initial which I'm sure that'll we figure out later," Harumi felt lightheaded when she said it and continued to read. "The Green Ninja is incapable of understanding common language and refuses to listen to a single word I say when the time comes, I will take care of him. For now, I will preserve their bodies for the time being."_

 _"Do you think Misako knows about this?" Morro came up to her again with an unsure expression on his face._

 _"Unlikely," She answered._

 _Lloyd's statue had him emitting green energy from his hands. His status was right in the middle of the ninja._

* * *

"By the FSM," The police commissioner whispered. "Remind me again how the two of you ended up down here?"

"How about we tell you after you break these chambers, yeah?" Morro pointed to the glass containers.

About thirty minutes earlier, Morro had gone to get Misako (and half of the entire Museum's employees), Misako screamed and immediately called the police force. Currently, the Special Forces were filled with several private eyes and detectives taking pictures of all the evidence they needed to better understand this case and many of the Museum's employees were being questioned. Morro and Harumi were held back from the tape that they put up.

"Alright everybody, step back!" A man wearing an eyepatch and several gears and gadgets on his uniform shouted. "This is gonna get extremely messy!"

A couple of seconds later, and the only human body to be seen was the man and the five missing teens. The man pulled a switch that was located near the computer (why didn't they think of that!?) and a loud buzz sounded like an ear piercing scream. The tanks started to increase in pressure and un-liquified, cracks formed and hissing was heard like a whistle. The man stepped back and let each tank shatter one by one.

Jay was first to fall, wheezing and coughing up liquid. Then Kai, who flipped and turned around and landed on his back. Cole, who fell headfirst and cursed in his native language. Zane landed on both of his feet and toppled over afterwards. Lastly, was Lloyd, who was on the floor, unconscious.

Morro was the first to cross over, jumping over the tape and instantly running to Lloyd. Harumi followed him (and before the Forces and employees too), she helped up the other boys who thanked her in both languages. Harumi just smiled at them and let the adults guide them and doctor them too (five years is long enough to be frozen in time).

There was a loud hack and Lloyd woke up breathing heavily. Lloyd looked around the room frantically and met with Morro's face. He smiled first.

"Morro! I did miss you, okay!" Though his sentence was phrased as a question, Harumi realized that was the first time Lloyd had spoken the common language. "He had me taken when I had stayed alone, I do not want back here!"

"Hey, hey, calm down, Lloyd," Morro reassured him. "You're not going to come back here anymore, I promise,"

After that, they shared a hug.

Harumi let of the breath that she had been holding and looked around at the lab. If they hadn't discovered it, who knows what P.P.C. would've done to the five of them. She and Morro were lucky that had gotten help. And that made her happy.

Though the mayor's daughter would totally deny it, it was still safe to say that she was forever jealous of the Green Ninja.

* * *

 **Eh, I think we all know that this isn't my best work but I actually enjoyed writing it**

 **(I got the Cryogenic-Chamber idea from Escape from Planet Earth lmao)**

 **Kudos to everyone who figures out why January 14th is in an important date and who P.P.C. is**

 **Up Next:** (You get to choose this time)

Ticking Time Bomb

Last of the Real Ones

L is for Loser

Or

You can request one this time and I'll do my best to write it (And to keep everything fair and un-biased, I will not be doing ships FYI)


End file.
